Hawesko

Hamburg, 18 July 2005. The wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) announced today that the International Wine Investment Fund (IWIF; IWI AU, IWI.AX) has sold its shareholding of over 6 % in Hawesko. IWIF, which specialises in investments in the wine industry, has recently completed a redemption offer to its unitholders, as a result of which now it has needed to sell down its holding in Hawesko. Malcolm Mowat, Company Secretary and Group Counsel of Berren Asset Management Limited, the responsible entity of IWIF, emphasised: "We continue to think that Hawesko is an excellent company - but the large response to our redemption offer left us with no other choice than to give up our shareholding to get the necessary liquidity."
The shares have been acquired by Tocos Beteiligung GmbH - respectively, by Mr Detlev Meyer. Mr Meyer had already acquired a 9.7 % shareholding earlier this month from Hawesko Chief Executive Alexander Margaritoff. "The sustainability of Hawesko's business model and the quality of its management are convincing. My stake in Hawesko is for the long term," said Mr Meyer.
Hawesko Holding AG is the leading supplier of premium wines and champagnes in Germany. In fiscal year 2004 the Group achieved sales of € 286 million through their three sales channels - specialist wine retail (Jacques' Wein-Depot), wholesale (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner und Wein Distributionsgesellschaft) and mail order (in particular Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor). The Group employs 580 people. The shares of Hawesko Holding AG are listed on the Hanseatic Stock Exchange in Hamburg as well as in the SDAX and GEX segments of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.