Bacardi looks forward to Cuba return

Bacardi looks forward to Cuba return
By Jonathan Kent
Published Nov 3, 2014 at 8:00 am (Updated Nov 2, 2014 at 7:17 pm)

Bermuda-based beverages giant Bacardi is looking forward to returning
some operations to Cuba once the US embargo of the country is lifted.

Bacardi was expelled from the Caribbean island in 1959, after the
revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power. Since then, the company
has set up a head office in Pitts Bay Road, as well as a distillery in
Puerto Rico and other offices in Miami.

Speaking to the just-drinks website, company president Joaquin Bacardi
said: "Rest assured, when the embargo lifts, Bacardi is going to have a
presence in Cuba again some day. There is absolutely no question of that."

However, Mr Bacardi said not all the company's rum production would be
likely to move to Cuba.

"We have a lot of (distilling) assets around the world," he was quoted
as saying. "It's going to take a balance between what products should
come out of Cuba and what products should come from our existing
facilities — there will likely be a combination of those.

"We are hopeful that the facilities (Bacardi owned before the
revolution) that exist in Cuba will be returned to us. We have all the
documentation to prove that property is ours.

"Because that property has been abandoned for so many years — although
it is being operated to produce other rums — we know that the conditions
of that operation are very poor; they don't maintain it very well. So,
it's going to require a significant capital investment."

The Cuban Government, through its Cuba Ron unit, jointly owns and
produces the Havana Club rum brand in the country with Pernod Ricard.
The two spirits companies have been in long-running legal disagreement
over the Havana Club trademark, with Bacardi selling a rum by the same
name in Florida. Pernod and Cuba Ron own the trademark in almost all
markets outside the US.

Source: Bacardi looks forward to Cuba return | The Royal Gazette:Bermuda
International Business -
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20141103/BUSINESS02/141109968