Brown-Forman has sold its Finlandia vodka brand to Europe’s Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) for $US220 million.

Finlandia was established in 1970 and is a leading vodka brand in Central and Eastern Europe, with annual volumes of 2.7 million 9L cases globally, of which more than 60% is being generated within Coca-Cola HBC’s geographic footprint. Finlandia is available in pure and in several flavoured versions.

Brown-Forman acquired Finlandia from Altia Corp – predecessor to the current production partner Anora Group Plc – in multiple phases, obtaining full ownership in 2004.

“Finlandia has played an important role in the global growth of Brown-Forman. Since the brand originally joined our portfolio in 2000, many talented individuals have worked hard to bring Finlandia vodka to the world, and I thank them for their dedication,” said Lawson Whiting, President and Chief Executive Officer, Brown-Forman Corporation.

“We believe Coca-Cola HBC is well-suited to support Finlandia’s future growth and look forward to watching the continued evolution of the brand in their capable hands.”

“We are excited and privileged to become the new home for Finlandia vodka,” said Zoran Bogdanovic, Chief Executive Officer, Coca-Cola HBC AG.

“Having been associated with the distribution of Finlandia for 17 years in several markets, we are excited by this unique and regionally relevant opportunity that will support the acceleration of our on-premise business across more of our markets. The proven complementarity of our premium spirits business with our strong non-alcoholic RTD portfolio enables us to offer solutions for a broad range of 24/7 consumption occasions, particularly socialising moments. We view this as an attractive investment and a natural evolution of our role as one of Finlandia’s distribution partners, further attesting to the strength of our time-tested and wide-ranging partnership with Brown-Forman.” 

When Jack & Coke is coming to Australia

The Coca-Cola Company recently collaborated with Brown-Forman on the global roll-out of the Jack & Coke RTD.

The partnership is proving to be a sales winner for the two drinks companies. They took a “test-and-learn approach” for the initial launch, applying lessons from a single-country rollout in Mexico to a global scaling strategy that will bring the product to 13 countries in 12 months. 

“This launch in the US is a milestone moment for both Coca‑Cola and Jack Daniel’s – it follows how people have enjoyed the pairing of these two iconic brands for generations and demonstrates our commitment to innovation from the simple to the complex,” said Dan White, Chief of New Revenue Streams for The Coca‑Cola Company.

“We are really excited about this classic cocktail being offered in a new way through our relationship with Jack Daniel’s.” 

The Jack Daniel’s website has announced Jack & Coke is officially arriving in Australia in 2024.