Two years ago, the Sonberk winery celebrated twenty years since its foundation, which was supported by the Vajda and Foglar business families. They are the owners of the investment group Proxy-Finance. Slovakian financier Peter Vajda, who passed away in 2017, particularly advocated for winemaking. “He was perceived as a personality who brought an element of grandeur to the wine business,” says Patria Corporate Finance CEO Marek Rehberger.
This year, however, the Proxy-Finance group began offering the Sonberk winery for sale, according to two independent sources from wine and investment circles. The winery is located near the South Moravian village of Popice within sight of the Novomlýn Reservoirs and Pálava. It manages vineyards with an area of 45.5 hectares. They produce around 120,000 bottles of wine annually. The Proxy-Finance group did not respond to questions sent regarding the sale of the winery.
Vineyards complemented by modern architecture
Wines produced by Sonberk regularly win domestic and international awards. Specifically, this year the winery won two gold medals from the largest international Decanter competition in London. And that for Riesling VOC and Pálava VOC, both from the 2023 vintage.
Sonberk also stands out for its modern building by architect Josef Pleskot, which opened in 2008. “At that time, it was a revelation when an element of modern architecture penetrated the winery, which was followed by several other similar initiatives such as the Obelisk, Gurdau or Thaya wineries,” recounts Rehberger.
According to experts, several factors are behind the decision to sell. “The sale of this investment will probably be based on practical reasons, which can be connected, for example, to the restructuring of the investment portfolio and, of course, to the monetization of the investment,” says Martin Vachata, an expert on mergers and acquisitions of the consulting group Talers. According to Rehberger, the followers of the owners do not consider this asset to be crucial and therefore decided to look for an investor who will be interested in them.
At the same time, the wine market has been lively in recent years. “There is interest in quality winemaking on the Czech market, both from domestic and foreign investors,” explains Adam Páleníček, an expert on mergers and acquisitions at the consulting firm KPMG.
This year, for example, the Znojmo winery Znovín Znojmo was sold to competitor Lahofer. Seven years ago, the financial group J&T bought the Reisten winery and a year earlier Kolby. “For many entrepreneurs in other fields, wine is a matter of the heart, and we have met many for whom it is a dream to run their own winery in their home region, but also in another region,” Vachata states, continuing: “At the same time, larger capable winemakers who are open to growth through acquisitions can take advantage of the ideal opportunity to increase market share.”
According to Vachata, strong Czech or Central European wineries may be among the interested parties. “Private investors or families who are looking for a long-term and prestigious investment based on real estate and a brand can also apply,” adds Vachata.
Rehberger expresses himself similarly: “Primarily, we expect the interest of mobile private investors who will be looking for a prestigious asset and will not necessarily look at the economics of operation.” According to him, the applicants may also include large beverage and food groups that will want to expand their portfolio with premium wines. After all, one of the applicants for Znovín was the beverage group Kofola.
On the other hand, the market is now under pressure. “The wine industry is currently going through a rather difficult period, when there is a huge overpressure of cheap wines from abroad on the Czech market and the margins are very low,” points out Rehberger. At the same time, the consumption of alcohol, including wine, is decreasing worldwide.
However, according to Páleníček, Czech wineries typically produce “around 500 to 600 thousand hectoliters per year, while this production is practically consumed on the domestic market. The difference between consumption and production has long been covered by imports – not because of the low quality of domestic wine, but because of its limited volume.” The Czech consumer has thus taken a liking to domestically produced wines.
Last year, according to its annual report, Sonberk made a profit of 3.8 million crowns, a year earlier it was 1.7 million crowns. Sales in 2024 and 2023 were around 32 million crowns.
Price? From tens to hundreds of millions of crowns
However, economic results will not play a big role in determining the purchase price. “Certainly the price will not depend on the multiple of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) as is the case with normally operating companies. Rather, it will depend on the price of the agricultural land, or in this case the vineyards,” says Rehberger, noting that the quality of the soil, the composition of the varieties and the age of the vineyards will be decisive. “As a rule, the price per square meter ranges from 40 to 150 crowns,” he adds.
In the case of Sonberk, the price would be from 18.2 to 68.25 million crowns. In addition to vineyards, Sonberk also owns a 3.7-hectare organic fruit orchard with apricot, cherry and walnut trees. Together with the equipment of the winery, this will also be reflected in the price. According to Páleníček, the price for Sonberk will also be influenced by the valuation of intangible assets such as the brand. According to Vachata, due to the winery’s low indebtedness, the price could range “in the higher tens to lower hundreds of millions of crowns”.
In addition to the Sonberk winery, the Proxy-Finance group includes the securities trader BH Securities, the oldest private financial institution in Slovakia, the First Slovak Investment Group, the manager of family assets Emun or, for example, the Slovak media house Petit Press, which includes, among others, the daily newspaper Sme.
