Campari bought Forty Creek for $186-million from Canadian entrepreneur John Hall in March 2014, and says its total investments in the country have surpassed $200-million, including for the establishment of a Canadian office in Toronto and hiring 70 workers here.Sheryl Nadler/The Globe and Mail
More than three years after buying the well-known Canadian whisky company Forty Creek Distillery Ltd., the Italian liquor juggernaut Gruppo Campari is expanding its operations in the country to become a bigger hub for its North American business and export the whisky to more markets.
Campari, which also owns Skyy Vodka, Wild Turkey bourbon and its namesake aperitif liqueur, announced on Wednesday that it had completed a $5-million investment to refurbish and expand the Grimsby, Ont., Forty Creek Distillery, southeast of Hamilton.
The company bought Forty Creek for $186-million from Canadian entrepreneur John Hall in March 2014 and says its total investments in the country have surpassed $200-million, including the establishment of a Canadian office in Toronto and the subsequent hiring of 70 workers.
Forty Creek is primarily sold in Canada and the United States. Whisky requires at least three years to age, and Campari bought the brand three years ago with growth in mind, investing in the expansion and modernization of the distillery's production lines. Now, Campari Canada president Massimo Mottura says, the purchase can pay off more broadly. "In the very close future, we'll be able to export Forty Creek whisky outside of North America," he said in an interview.
Michael Chan, Ontario's Minister of International Trade, and Brad Duguid, its Minister of Economic Development and Growth, both attended the announcement in Toronto's Liberty Village Wednesday morning. Mr. Chan said the investment, which will bring the Canadian-made product to more international markets, was a good example of diversifying the province's international trade and a chance to take advantage of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. "It's a stepping stone into a huge market," he told The Globe and Mail.
The company now bottles some of its other products at the Grimsby distillery, including Appleton Estate rum.