SMWE Chief Talks Sycamore Acquisition and Future Moves

Dear Client: Earlier this month tobacco giant Altria announced it is selling Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for a cool $1.2 billion to private equity firm Sycamore Partners [see WSD 07-09-2021]. Your editor got SMWE chief David Dearie on the horn to discuss the deal and what's next for the company.  Ste. Michelle recently bounced back from losses in 2020, recording a net revenue increase of 2.7% for the first quarter of 2021. However, pandemic-era losses weren't the driving factor in