Award-winning rum brands recently acquired by Gruppo Campari shift from Kobrand  to Campari America in key American market.

Milan, 15 February 2013 – Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A. (Reuters CPRI.MI – Bloomberg CPR IM), through its wholly owned subsidiary Campari America, announced today it has reached an agreement with Kobrand Corporation that will shift the distribution and marketing of the Appleton® Rum portfolio of brands in the US from Kobrand to Campari America beginning 1 March 2013.

Appleton, in addition to the Wray & Nephew® and Coruba® Rum brands, was acquired by Gruppo Campari in December 2012 as part of the company’s purchase of the Jamaican company Lascelles deMercado & Co. Limited.

Currently Gruppo Campari’s owned distribution of the Lascelles deMercado Brand portfolio is limited to Jamaica and the U.K. Looking forward Campari is poised to benefit significantly from taking distribution in other key markets.

Campari agreed to pay USD 20 million to Kobrand Corporation for the buy-back of the Appleton Rum portfolio distribution rights in the US.

Bob Kunze-Concewitz, Chief Executive Officer: ‘This is a key step in the integration processof the Appleton portfolio into our distribution network. It confirms our strong commitment to achieve a swift in-sourcing of the brands with the objective to exploit the brands’ full potential in the key US market. Owned distribution will enable greater focus on the acquired business and more efficient brandbuilding activities. Moreover, it will allow us to further leverage our strong distribution capabilitiesas well as to entirely capture the brand contribution in the highly strategic US market.’.

The business acquired by Gruppo Campari includes an unrivalled portfolio of world-class premium and overproof rums, including Appleton Estate (super premium aged rum designed for sipping), Appleton Special and White (blend specially designed for mixing), Wray & Nephew White Overproof (the world’s top-selling, award-winning overproof rum), Coruba, and a strong portfolio of Jamaican brands. In Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2011, this rum and spirits portfolio achieved total sales volume of 3.5 million 9 liter cases on a world-wide basis.