Encirc - Accolade Image

Glass company Encirc has acquired Accolade Wines’ Bristol-based bottling and warehousing facility The Park as part of a £30m deal.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Vidrala-owned company will acquire all of the site’s associated equipment, and Accolade Wines will enter a 10-year contract bottling and distribution agreement with Encirc to support its flagship brands.

The deal, which is scheduled to close in January 2023, aims to support the wine producer’s growth strategy in key markets including the UK and Europe.

The move would also “utilise rail distribution between sites and supply into retail, enabling Encirc to provide an ultra-efficient, sustainable supply chain service across the UK beverage market”, said Accolade.

As part of the transaction, approximately 400 employees at The Park, which can produce the equivalent of more than 30 million nine-litre cases of wine a year, will transfer to Encirc on their existing terms of employment.

The non-manufacturing team members would continue to drive Accolade’s European business, the companies said.

Encirc operates from three sites: Derrylin, Co Fermanagh; Elton, Cheshire; and Corsico, Italy.

It produces around four billion glass bottles and other containers annually. It also claims to fill more than 200 million litres of bulk-shipped beverages every year.

Accolade Wines was “committed to excellence across its global supply chain in terms of innovation, quality, efficiency and sustainability”, said its CEO Robert Foye.

“The Park represents best practice across all of these criteria and, through our collaboration with Encirc with its deep experience and networks across Europe, we will be able to continue accessing all the benefits of this world-class facility while extracting additional efficiency and flexibility in our supply chain.”

Encirc MD Adrian Curry, meanwhile, said the deal would “allow us to service the UK glass beverage market with an offering that is unrivalled globally in terms of service and sustainability”.