Bitters Unite: Campari Buys Averna

Italian spirits company Gruppo Campari announced its move to buy Sicilian bitters company Fratelli Averna for $143 million today according to Reuters. It is the first in a series of acquisitions toward which Campari has allotted $346 million in 2014. The sixth largest spirits company in the world, Campari is posed to dominate in the bitters arena with Aperol and Cynar (an artichoke amaro) already in its arsenal.

Fratelli Averna, which owns amari brands Braulio and Averna—beloved by the cocktail and wine drinking set—”makes over a third of revenue from exports,” 75% of which is consumed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Is this a sign that the Negroni’s seemingly unavoidable magnetism is about to take the rest of the world by storm? Furthermore, it looks like bitters are about to get a global boost. [Reuters] [Photo: Campari]