Jose Cuervo loosens up with stock sales plan

Cuervo CEO Beckmann (Bill Dowd photo)

Fans of Jose Cuervo soon may be able to pick up more than a bottle of the iconic tequila. The Mexican alcoholic beverage maker on Tuesday filed a prospectus to conduct its long-expected initial public offering (IPO) of stock after centuries of tight control of its business.

Although the IPO announcement contained scant details, industry analysts have suggested the company, one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the Western Hemisphere, could be seeking to raise between $750 million and $1 billion.

The idea of selling shares in the company is an obvious move to avoid any sort of takeover by another company. There have been such attempts from time to time. One of the most serious was back in 2011, when spirits giant Diageo made such a push. That multinational owns such brands as Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Tanqueray, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, J&B, Bulleitt and Ketel One.

Cuervo, which officially goes by the name Becle, said it had 2015 sales of nearly $1.02 billion, up from abut $778 million in 2014. In just the first six months of this year, the company said, it has had revenues of more than $625 million. The company said the U.S. and Canada account for about two-thirds of its sales, while Mexico generates just over a fifth of revenue.

It was founded by Jose Antonio de Cuervo in the late 1700s, when Mexico still was controlled by Spain, in the town of Tequila in Jalisco state. It is run by the Beckmann family, who married into the Cuervo family a century ago.

Back in late 2008, I was a guest of Juan-Domingo Beckmann shortly before he succeeded his father as CEO of the company, enjoying a tasting deep in the cellars of Cuervo's LaRojeña distillery in Jalisco. You can access that story and photos here.

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