The Billion-Dollar Buyer Of Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, And Montecristo Cigar Brands Remains A Smoky Mystery

The consortium of buyers of Imperial Brands’ cigar business, who will be acquiring the world renowned Cohiba brand, have mostly remained under the radar. The deal itself has also been “shrouded in a smoky veil of secrecy”, according to Bloomberg. 

However, one group of investors is being led by an Asian Gambling Executive who helps run operations in Macau, it is now being reported. Imperial has continued to decline comment on who is buying the business, simply calling them “the right long-term owners” for the brands. 

Imperial decided last month to sell its premium cigar business for $1.1 billion to Allied Cigar Corporation. Imperial’s brand portfolio also includes Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo.

Allied Cigar is a private firm that was incorporated in Hong Kong on March 10, according to registry filings. Chiu King-yan, who is the CFO of Macau’s biggest junket operator, SunCity Group Holdings Ltd., was listed as a board member. 

Chiu is also a director of Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed firm behind a hotel and casino complex near Vladivostok, Russia.

SunCity owns a majority stake in Summit Ascent and has been expanding outside of Macau in recent years. It has opened a resort project in Vietnam and is currently looking for projects in places like Cambodia and Japan. 

Other board members include Chiu Ping-shun and Joyce Lam. There is little information available on them in the public domain and there has been no additional evidence to suggest that SunCity is involved directly in the acquisition. 

It’s unusual for an acquisition this large to go off without transparency on who the acquirer is.

This is complicated by the fact that the deal includes Imperial’s 50/50 joint venture in Cuba, which distributes and sells the Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo brands. Cuba has been isolated by U.S. sanctions for decades, making it tough for the two countries to do business, Bloomberg concludes.

We’ll continue to keep a close eye on this story as it develops.