BRL Hardy was one of three jilted suitors when Jess Jackson decided to take the wine business he founded, Kendall-Jackson, off the market for either a sale or merger. Together with the British group Daigeo Plc and US-based Brown-Forman Corp (makers of Jack Daniel’s bourbon), BRL Hardy was informed that despite months of negotiations, Jackson wanted K-J to remain as an independent family-owned winery. K-J chief executive Lewis E Platt said that the company will continue to fund expansion by relying on the same type of bank and private placement financing it has traditionally used. While BRL Hardy might feel let down, its share price rose with the news that K-J had pushed its asking price to a prohibitively high level. Managing director Stephen Millar says that BRL Hardy will continue to look for other US options, but questions now remain about the company’s ability, or even perhaps its will, to fight off the several large companies that now might be interested in purchasing it.
