SPI Group Owner Yury Shefler Looks To Expand The Company's Global Wine Business

LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today SPI Group announced that that it is looking to grow its global wine portfolio.  The company, which owns Stolichnaya® Premium Vodka, is planning to further diversify its spirit portfolio through the acquisition of exclusive and premium wineries located throughout the world. 

Yuri Shefler, owner of SPI Group, who has a tremendous passion for super-premium wines and frequently travels to key wine-making regions, is personally spearheading this initiative. The company, which is currently evaluating opportunities in California, Spain, Portugal and Chile, plans to complete potential acquisitions in the next couple of years.

"We have seen terrific growth within our world-class wine holdings since entering the business in 2006," said Val Mendelev, CEO of SPI Group.  "We are carefully evaluating multiple opportunities which will allow SPI to enrich its portfolio of jewel wines and develop this part of our company."

In 2006, SPI Group acquired a stake in the prestigious Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, Castelgiocondo and Luce della Vite estates, all part of the Marchesi de'Frescobaldi family holdings. These three vineyards continue to produce some of the world's most highly sought after wines.

SPI expanded their wine holdings in 2011 by acquiring a majority stake in Achaval Ferrer, located in Mendoza, Argentina. The award-winning boutique winery produces some of the highest rated Argentinians wines which have consistently earned scores of 95-99 by Robert Parker and made the Wines Spectator's top 10 list.

For more information on SPI Group, please visit http://www.spi-group.com/.

About SPI Group
SPI Group (headquartered in Luxembourg) is the owner of global vodka brands such as the iconic Stolichnaya® Premium vodka range, elit™ by Stolichnaya® and Moskovskaya®. Founded in 1997 by Yuri Shefler, SPI operates across over 160 markets and is one of the world's leading wines and spirits organizations active in the production, sale and distribution of more than 380 brands, many of which it owns. The group also operates a network of 75 alcohol retail shops, develops large-scale real estate projects and farms ca.5,000 hectares of agricultural land. SPI Group has been a strong acquirer and integrator of spirits and wine companies, having completed 15 acquisitions of producers, importers, distributors and retailers of beverages.

SPI's own ultra-modern raw alcohol distillery in Russia is illustrative of the dedication the group has towards all its brands. Stoli's remarkable reputation has been built through a strong focus on quality and ownership of the entire production process. Exceptional purity is achieved by using only the highest quality ingredients and quadruple filtration, whilst bold character is retained by adhering to Stolichnaya traditions of only three times distillation yielding a liquid with complex layers of aroma and flavor.

SOURCE SPI Group