Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/566084
22 tobaccoasia / Issue 4, 2015 (September/October) Imperial's Asia Operations and Key Brands The company currently operates in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. In Taiwan, its key brands are Davidoff, West, Boss, and P&S, all of which are reportedly well presented in the "convenience trade channel", i.e. sold over convenience store counters. "We also manufacture in Taiwan for the local and other Asian markets where we are present, particularly Japan," explained Watkins. The key brand in Japan is West and Imperial has poured considerable resources into building its market presence and marketing capabilities there since entering Japan a mere two years ago. "We use a third party distribution network to ensure availability at an ef- fective and efficient cost level," said Watkins. He added that sales volumes have been growing consistently in both Taiwan and Japan. While Davidoff is the designated key brand in South Korea, Watkins ad- mitted that sales have been impacted by exceptional excise tax increases. In Vietnam, Imperial is represented with Bastos and Fine, and in Laos the company named its key brands YSL, Bastos, and A. Cambodia is covered through the Fine, Davidoff, and Royale brands. The main challenge in Asia for the company is the illicit tobacco trade, which is exacerbated by increasingly excessive regulations for legal products as well as tax increases. "For example, the implementation of pictorial health warnings on tobacco packs in Vietnam resulted in the duty-paid, legitimate market in the country suddenly dropping by 20%; and all of this lost volume was quickly replaced by illicit brands," Watkins said. cigarette and e-cigarette brands and assets, and following Reynolds' impending acquisition of Lorillard Inc. The deal was concluded on 28 January 2015 and was subsequently approved by the US Federal Trade Commission on 27 May of the same year. On June 8, the United States District Court for the District of Co- lumbia approved the sale of the acquired ciga- rette brands and assets to ITG Brands in ac- cordance with the Department of Justice case involving those brands. "I'm delighted to announce the comple- tion of this deal, which will transform our position in the US and generate significant returns for our shareholders. We will focus on leveraging our enhanced scale and capabili- ties to maximize growth opportunities for our portfolio and establish ITG Brands as a major competitive player in the US tobacco market," said Alison Cooper at the time in a statement to shareholders and media. The deal reportedly was worth a total of USD7.1 billion, including brands and infra- structure assets. The brands acquired were Winston, Salem, Kool, Maverick, as well as e-cig- arette brand Blu, while the newly acquired as- sets included a manufacturing facility, national sales team, and various marketing resources.