Newlat Food confirms that it has signed an exclusive agreement for the acquisition of the production plant “Diageo Operations Italy SpA”, located in Santa Vittoria d'Alba (CN), Italy. The announcement comes following what was already anticipated yesterday by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy. The plan, Mimit had specified, provides for the protection of all 349 workers currently employed in the Piedmont plant through the maintenance of production and the introduction of new products.

The current English ownership, at the conclusion of the operation, will thus give way to a new industrial operator, bringing back into Italian hands the ownership of a historic national production site, in the past the beating heart of the Cinzano brand. The new buyer's industrial plan will now be examined in depth in the coming days together with the trade unions.

"The potential transaction would allow Newlat Food to complete and consolidate its offering in the beverage segment, a sector in which the Group already generates over €350 million in revenues in the United Kingdom," the company said in a statement. The plant subject to the agreement has consolidated experience in the production of a wide range of alcoholic beverages, ready-to-drink products, as well as low- and zero-alcohol solutions. Newlat Food will promptly communicate the final outcome of the transaction to the market, in line with the disclosure obligations required by applicable law.

Newlat's intervention should now guarantee a plan for production continuity and full employment, saving the fate of over 300 Diageo employees. "We have been working on this for months," said the President of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio , at the end of the meeting at Mimit. "The hope now is that the next formal steps will be held quickly." A new meeting is scheduled for today at the Ministry of Labor to define the commitments of the new buyer.

The announcement of the acquisition of the Diageo plant by Newlat comes a few weeks after the change of the group's name to NewPrinces, formalized during the last shareholders' meeting, which also approved the 2024 financial statements closed with consolidated group revenues of 2.77 billion euros.