News

Corby Bottlers, the wine bottler and supplier of bag-in-box wines to supermarkets, has been sold to Indian firm Champagne Indage for an undisclosed sum.

The Northamptonshire firm and sister company Darlington Wines have continued to trade since they were placed in administration on 18 March.

The two businesses had a combined turnover of around £25m.

Administrator Andrew McGill, from KPMG in Birmingham, said the sale had "ensured the transfer of 120 jobs to the new company".

"We were always optimistic that the businesses could be sold as going concerns," he added.

Champagne Indage is part of the Indian Indage Group, created in 1982 to produce and sell wines to the domestic wine market in India. Last year the group bought out the wine-making arm of Australian company Tandou.

The new firm will be called Indage (UK) and will continue to be run by Corby Bottlers managing director John Steel.

Champagne Indage managing director Ranjit Chougule said the acquisition would give the group a "large-scale" route into the UK market.

Corby Bottlers was set up 20 years ago as a contract filler for bag-in-box wines for supermarkets. It later added bottling lines to offer a complete filling, bonding and distribution service.

The firm has three lines filling 75cl, one-litre and 1.5-litre bottles.