Tobacco Asia

Volume 18, Number 5

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tobaccoasia 69 The headquarters of Commonwealth-Altadis in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. USA portfolio includes cigarette and cigar brands, including Montclair, USA Gold, Sonoma, Dutch Mas- ters, Backwoods, and Phillies. Speaking of brands, ITG has indicated that Winston will be the main focus of its US strategy. "Research in the US has reinforced Imperial's confidence that Winston can be rejuvenated," said an ITG statement. "It is a leading global brand (global No.2), which has strong latent brand eq- uity in the US and has previously demonstrated its capability to grow supported by increased invest- ment." USA Gold, Commonwealth's leading brand for many years, will "continue to be a focus in line with its rejuvenation strategy but with broader, na- tional distribution," the statement said. Imperial Tobacco, based in Bristol, England, is a multi-national tobacco company. Its brands in- clude Davidoff cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobaccos; West, and Gauloises Blondes cigarettes; Montecristo cigars; Golden Virginia hand rolling tobacco; Drum fine-cut tobacco; Rizla rolling papers; and the Pu- ritane e-cigarette brand. It operates in more than 160 markets. Alevo in Concord N.C., near Charlotte The Concord, N.C., campus that once was thought to be the future of cigarette making for Philip Morris USA has been renamed Victory In- dustrial Park by its new owner, the privately held Swiss battery maker Alevo Group. "It makes the most sense to make the head- quarters of the new company in Greensboro, in a building we will own outright when the transaction is completed," the company said in a statement. "This wonderful facility is in the heart of tobacco country, near our factories and has the infrastruc- ture to accommodate the enlarged business." The company will make storage modules con- taining its own lithium-ion battery technology. Alevo reportedly paid $68.5 million for the 2,000-acre campus, which was vacated in 2009. RJR gets a facelift in Winston-Salem The face of R.J. Reynolds, the second-largest US tobacco company, will obviously change. Newport will join two of the best-selling cigarettes in the U.S., Camel and Pall Mall, along with Winston, Kool, Doral, Salem, Misty, and Capri. Subsidiaries and their products include: • American Snuff Company, LLC is the na- tion's second-largest manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products. Its leading brands are Grizzly and Kodiak. • Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc. manufactures and markets Natural American Spirit 100% additive-free natural tobacco products, in- cluding styles made with organic tobacco. • Niconovum USA, Inc. and Niconovum AB market innovative nicotine replacement therapy products in the US and Sweden, respectively, un- der the Zonnic brand name. • R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company makes and markets VUSE e-cigarettes, a highly differentiated vapor product. Newport will obviously be added to the lineup. It has been speculated that: • Regulators may require R.J. Reynolds to add Doral to the brands it sells to ITG or substitute it for one currently on the list. • Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, the RJR's subsidiary, may be spun off as a separate company. PMI gets out of direct contracting The doors that Philip Morris International's con- tract farmers will be knocking on to deliver their tobacco will be different. PMI announced in November that it will cease contracting directly with American farmers and instead will purchase American leaf exclusively through Alliance One International (AOI) and Universal Corporation (ULTC). The two dealers will honor any multi- year farmer contracts still outstanding, PMI said. PMI had several receiving stations, and AOI in- tends to operate at least two of them – Kerners- ville, NC, and Smithfield, NC. There is no word yet about the others.

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