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IMPERIAL STILL WANTS ALTADIS

Plus: new RR Doubles cigar from Puros de Armando Ramos

Los Angeles, May 30 – In the jousting between Imperial Tobacco and Altadis over a possible purchase by Imperial, the British company noted that it had a hard time seeing any reason to increase its bid beyond €47 per share ($63 U.S.) without looking at Altadis’s books to see where additional value.

After receiving a bid of €50 per share (about $67.20 U.S.) from a joint bid by European private-equity firms CVC Capital Partners and PAI, Altadis agreed to allow those two firms access to its finances and to allow an “appropriate” amount of access to Imperial.

Apparently, Imperial found some additional value, as over-the-weekend reports indicated that it will enter a third bid, this time in excess of €50, which may be enough to win.

In the meantime, the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta de los Negocios reported that CVC and PAI are not in agreement about how Altadis would be split up or run if the two firms are able to acquire it. According to a Reuters report:

“Citing sources close to the operation, La Gaceta said CVC was proposing to control 40 percent of Altadis, leaving PAI with 30 percent and the remaining 30 percent with other Spanish and French investors.

“However, neither PAI nor the other investors are happy with the proposal.”

So the game is afoot, with Imperial – ranked as the fourth-largest tobacco company worldwide – still looking to be best positioned to acquire Altadis, currently ranked fifth.

Double your pleasure, double your fun?
Puros de Armando Ramos President Paul Magier is nothing if not inventive. He’ll try anything once . . . or twice!

Using an experimental growing area in Ecuador, Magier and company founder Armando Ramos bred their own versions of Cameroon, Corojo, Criollo in maduro shade and Connecticut-style wrappers and binders. Now they are putting them on cigars, two at a time.

The new “RR Doubles” line features a core blend of Ecuadorian filler leaves and then surrounds them with a wrapper and binder from one of the four leaf styles they have developed:

• Double South American Cameroon
• Double Ecuador Corojo
• Double Criollo Maduro
• Double Ecuador Connecticut

Magier noted that the new blends use “tobaccos that we created ourselves that are totally exclusive to our cigars. We have been working on breeding some of this leaf for nearly eight years; creating a Cameroon that is thicker and less fragile than the African version, a Corojo that is punchy but more refined than the Central American breeds and the industry’s only Criollo Maduro. “Combined with our smooth-but-full-bodied fillers, these wrapper/binder “doubles” provide a very distinctive smoking experience.”

The RR Doubles line – the “RR” stands for Rafael Ramos, Armando’s son – is being offered in four sizes to start: Toro (6 inches by 50 ring), Torpedo (6 x 50), Gordo (6 x 60) and Torpito (4 1/2 x 50). All are offered in cedar chests of 50 cigars each and are expected to retail for $4-5 each before local tobacco taxes.

From the Cubador:
The Associated Press reported that Alimport, the Cuban food import company is readying to buy more than $150 million in U.S. foodstuffs from as many as 22 states, many of whom are sending delegations to Havana in the next month.

Pedro Alvarez, chairman of the island's food import company Alimport, said the Cubans will likely buy as much U.S.-produced food in 2007 as it did last year. The report noted that 100 American farm groups are participating.

According to the AP, Cuba spent $570 million for U.S. food and agricultural products in 2006, including shipping and banking costs, and about $225 million so far this year. Since exports of food products to Cuba have been allowed in 2001, Alimport has bought about $2.2 billion in U.S. farm products.

“We would buy double that if not for the restrictions," said Pedro Alvarez, the Alimport chairman.

And the winner is:
Congratulations to Michael Kestel of Las Vegas, Nevada, winner of our “Register & Win” drawing for a free box of La Vencedora Piramide Series Vitola C cigars from our Perelman, Pioneer & Company humidors, courtesy of Villiger Stokkebye International.

Up for your pleasure this week is a prestigious box of 25 Bauza Robustos, an elegant, medium-bodied cigar made at the fabled Tabacalera A. Fuente in the popular robusto size of 5 1/2 inches by 50 ring gauge, provided courtesy of our friends at Mike’s Cigars. It will be awarded in our drawing to be held on Sunday, June 3.

To enter, just click on the “Register & Win” tab above and fill out the required information. If you have entered in the past, there is no need to re-enter; all past entries are carried forward to future drawings. You must be 21 or older to win; good luck!
~ Rich Perelman

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