Comhar Capital Completes £4.25m Investment In The Lakes Distillery
The Lakes Distillery - Setmurthy, Cumbria (Nr Bassenthwaite Lake)
The Lakes Distillery, a Cumbrian-based whisky distiller, has secured a £4.25m investment from Comhar Capital, to support its ambitious growth plans.
With its investment Comhar Capital has acquired a minority share in the business. The funding will support The Lakes’ ongoing capital investment programme and continued growth in maturing whisky stocks as the business begins to develop internationally.
The Lakes Distillery (‘The Lakes’) was established close to Bassenthwaite Lake in 2011 under the leadership of Nigel Mills and Paul Currie.
The Lakes’ whiskymaker, Dhavall Gandhi, joined the business in 2015 from The Macallan and is developing a strong reputation across the market for The Lakes’ sherry-led house style. The business already boasts a collection of award-winning whisky, gin and vodka spirits, that can now be found at a number of leading online and high street retailers, including Ocado, Co-op, and Next.
The Lakes’ single malt whisky - The Whiskymaker’s Reserve
Comhar’s investment will be used to support further investment in the The Lakes’ Setmurthy distillery and visitor centre and will see production capacity tripled to more than 1m bottles p.a.
This is another investment from Leeds-based Comhar (pronounced ‘core’) which was established in 2018 by Neil Armstrong and Craig Wilkinson. The company, named after the Gaelic word for ‘partnership’ has been established as an independent direct capital investment business targeting SMEs run by forward-thinking, growth orientated managers. Craig will join the Board of The Lakes Distillery.
Commenting upon the new partnership Nigel Mills CBE, co-founder and CEO of The Lakes, said, “Our vision is to create a global luxury single malt whisky brand. It’s an ambitious goal and one which means quality is at the heart of everything we do. A sentiment very much shared by Comhar.
“The new investment will help to sustain our ongoing program of capital investment which, in 2020, will see single malt whisky production treble from 400,000 bottles p.a. to 1.2 million, the installation of eight new washbacks to facilitate 24-hour distillation, construction of a new racked warehouse, and support for our aspiration to increase sales in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.”
Craig Wilkinson, Managing Director at Comhar commented: “We’re really delighted to be working with the team at The Lakes and supporting them to deliver on their global growth ambitions.
“In a relatively short space of time Nigel and the team have successfully established The Lakes brand in the market and its reputation for quality. The Lakes Distillery is very impressive and a real credit to the team.”
Legal support for the transaction was provided by Jeremy Cunningham and Rupert Wyles of RPC.
For further information about this transaction please contact Craig Wilkinson on craig.wilkinson@comharcapital.co.uk or via +44(0)7484 165447.
Notes:
Comhar Capital
Comhar Capital (pronounced ‘core’), is a company focused upon providing direct capital investment for businesses run by forward-thinking, growth-orientated owner-managers.
Meaning ‘partnership’ in Gaelic, Comhar prefers to work hand-in-hand with business owners to help improve a company’s outlook, opportunities and growth prospects.
Comhar founders are Neil Armstrong and Craig Wilkinson. Neil is a highly experienced business leader and entrepreneur, who currently leads Fastflow Group whilst holding a number of other non-executive positions. Craig has been investing in, financing and supporting growing companies for more than 20 years, most recently with LDC (the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group) where he took the Lloyds mid-market investment business to Asia.
Further information can be found at: www.comharcapital.co.uk or via enquiries@comharcapital.co.uk
The Lakes Distillery
The nature of their art is whisky, and their inspiration is the natural beauty of the UNESCO World Heritage Site where a state-of-the-art distillery has been built meticulously within a 160-year-old farmstead on the banks of the River Derwent.
Attracting over 100,000 visitors each year, the Lakes Distillery has twice been named ‘one of eight distilleries to visit before you die’ by the World Whisky Day campaign. The visitor centre, bistro and tour hold Visit England’s Gold accolade and was voted the Icons of Whisky Visitor Attraction of the Year 2019 by Whisky magazine.
On 7 September 2019, The Lakes unveiled the first in a series of widely available single malt whisky releases that will showcase the house style defined by their whiskymaker, Dhavall Gandhi. Inspired by nature, The Whiskymaker’s Reserve No.1 is an artistic exploration of maturation and blending; of flavour evolution and defining a sherry-led house style.
Further information can be found at: https://www.lakesdistillery.com/