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Los Angeles, October 13 – Davidoff of Geneva is expected to announce its first major acquisition in years today with the purchase of Camacho Cigars.

It’s a unique move for Davidoff, which has previously only absorbed brands – Avo and The Griffin’s – that were made by its cigar-production partner, Hendrik Kelner. Now, it will add a long inventory of brands which were developed by the father-and-son team of Julio and Christian Eiroa and long-time advisor Sal Fontana, including the hot-selling Camacho Corojo lines.

Davidoff has made its reputation on cigars made in the Dominican Republic, including Davidoff, Private Stock, Winston Churchill and Zino. Although it manufactured Zino cigars in Honduras for many years, all of those brands – Zino Classic, Zino Platinum Crown and Zino Platinum Scepter – are now made in the Dominican.

In Camacho, Davidoff acquires one of the top factories in Honduras with mature brands that have a devoted following, especially of its Camacho lines, including the Camacho Corojo, Camacho 10th Anniversary and the sensational new Camacho Triple Maduro. In addition, the Camacho portfolio includes the Baccarat brand, a mild-bodied cigar with a sweetened cap that sells in the millions annually, and the highly-regarded La Fontana line.

The high regard in which the top Camacho lines are held by smokers fits well with the Davidoff image and several of the Camacho blends are price-controlled – meaning they must be sold at or very close to the list price – as are the Davidoff lines and several other Davidoff-distributed brands. The new and elegant packaging for Camacho’s high-end Diploma series fits well with the Davidoff style as well.

For Julio and Christian Eiroa, it had been no secret within the trade for several years that they had been willing to sell if the price was right and they could concentrate on making better cigars than dealing with the administrative burdens of sales and distribution.

No details on the price of the transaction were available and as Davidoff is a private company, no public filing is likely to be made. A formal announcement is expected today.

Courtesy: CigarCyclopedia

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