Chinese wine makers cast their eyes overseas for vineyard purchases
Hong Kong resident Pan Sutong flew by private jet to California's Napa Valley in May 2011, and flew out the next day with an agreement to buy Sloan Estate, one of Napa's most desired vineyards, for US$50 million.
From first meeting to handshake it took fewer than 24 hours.
The deal to buy from US investor Stuart Sloan was as much about personality as opportunity. "What clicked is that Pan is very similar to Stuart. He is also a businessman … and wine is his passion," says Harvey Lee Chi-chung, Pan's colleague.
Pan is the chairman of Goldin Real Estate Financial Holdings. The purchase of the Sloan Estate was "the first step in a 100-step process" to build a global wine business, says Lee, who is the group's vice- chairman. "We are long-term greedy. Our main focus right now is to buy top-quality properties."
The deal marked the first wave of overseas investment by Chinese investors, an attempt to profit from the country's growing thirst for wine.
No longer content to simply handle mainland distribution for foreign wineries, Chinese investors are now starting to acquire vineyard real estate in a wider strategy to control the entire supply chain from grape to glass.