Beam Suntory and Frucor Suntory have announced Suntory Oceania, a new NZ$3.2B multi-beverage partnership across the premium spirits and non-alcohol segments in both Australia and New Zealand.
The partnership brings to an end a 16-year manufacturing, sales, and distribution partnership between Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and Beam Suntory.
Under the Suntory Oceania umbrella, Beam Suntory and Frucor Suntory together will create the fourth-largest ANZ beverage group in Oceania, with full end-to-end control of its portfolio, including manufacturing, sales, and distribution.
Preparation will start now to ensure the partnership is operational for mid-2025 in Australia and 2026 in New Zealand.
Suntory Oceania’s 40 brands will include Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Hibiki Japanese Whisky, Canadian Club Whisky, -196, V Energy, Maximus, Suntory BOSS Coffee among many more, and spans premium spirits, RTD (ready-to-drink) alcohol beverages, juice, water, soft drinks, coffee, energy and sports drinks.
Frucor Suntory CEO, Darren Fullerton says the new venture is all about bringing the best of Suntory to Oceania.
“With the ability to accelerate our growth trajectory, we strongly believe it will redefine market dynamics and offer more consumer beverage moments from sunrise to sunset, unlocking innovation for our customers across retail and hospitality industries.”
The largest single FMCG investment in Australia in over a decade, the construction of a new AU$400M, net zero facility in Ipswich, Queensland, will be the catalyst for Suntory’s growth ambitions.
Complementing current manufacturing operations in Auckland, the new Queensland site will become home to additional beverage processing, packaging, warehousing, and distribution.
The new facility is on track to be operational in mid-2024 with the ability to produce 20 million cases on start-up and over 50 million cases in the future.
“The new site sets the industry standard in terms of investment into sustainable technologies to drive efficiency and minimise our carbon footprint,” says Fullerton.
“We are looking at a multi-pronged strategy through a CleanCo solar power purchase agreement, over 14km of solar panels on site, biomass boiler and state-of-the-art production equipment.”
CCEP says it plans to continue to participate in alcohol beyond the expiry of the Beam Suntory contracts.
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