Imperial Brands accepts offer on premium cigar division. The premium cigar division was on the market for a while and Imperial brands have accepted an offer of 1.225 billion euros from Allied Cigar Corporation SL and Gemstone Investment Holding Ltd. While Imperial Brands always said they didn’t want to split up the cigar division for the sale, they eventually did. Allied Cigar Corp only purchases the ‘rest of the world’ part and not the US-based businesses. Gemstone Investment Holding purchased Imperial’s premium business in the USA.

US business

Gemstone Investment Holding purchased cigar distributor Altadis USA, JR Cigar, cigar.com, and Serious Cigars as well as the 28 brick-and-mortar retail stores Casa de Montecristo. For that, the company paid 185 million Euro to Imperial Brands. With this move, Gemstone is now the largest tobacconist in the United States.

Rest of the world

The other part of Imperial Brand’s premium cigar division goes to Allied Cigar Corp. This is a much bigger portion, with a price tag of 1.04 billion euros. It includes cigar factories in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The largest factory in the Dominican Republic, Tabacalera de Garcia is included. It also includes a 50% stake in Habanos, the distribution and marketing arm of the Cuban cigar industry. And a stake in many Habanos distributors worldwide. Brands such as Flor de Copan and VegaFina are included in the deal as well.

The sum of 1.225 billion dollars is a far cry from what Imperial Brands hoped to receive. The British company expected to sell the premium cigar division for 2 billion dollars. The sale should be finalized in the third quarter of this year. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Huabao, a Chinese company with stakes in cigarettes and flavored tobacco had the last offer standing.