FOSTER'S has officially put its vineyard portfolio on to the market with an unknown price tag.
The 31 properties cover about 5000ha, and are in Victoria, NSW and SA. The sale of these properties (and another five which are not included in this listing ) and the decision to retire 37 wine brands, came about as a result of an internal review of its wine operations.
Landmark (part of AWB) is handling the sale and AWB spokesman Ian Desborough said he could not comment on price.
"No, I can't comment at all,'' he said.
However, onlookers have speculated that the price tag could be somewhere about $200 million, making it the largest sale in southern Australia for some time.
Other media reports earlier this year said the 36 vineyards "have a book value of $253 million''. However, the reports also said this book value would be written down in the second half.
The vineyards are in South Australia (Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Eden Valley, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Padthaway and Wrattonbully), New South Wales (Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Murray-Darling, Tumbarumba and Tumblong) and Victoria (Glenlofty, Glenrowan and Yarra Valley).
"Landmark will prepare full catalogues for each property and present these to prospective buyers within Australia,'' David Johnson from Landmark said.
"The sale process will entail a registration of interest followed by a tender process for each property, with full details available to prospective purchasers in May.''