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Constellation Brands to sell Black Velvet Canadian Whisky

Constellation Brands is a Fortune 500 Company based in Victor, NY.
Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands is a Fortune 500 Company based in Victor, NY.

Constellation Brands is selling its Black Velvet Canadian Whisky business to a Kentucky based company called Heaven Hill Brands.

Along with Black Velvet’s production facility in Alberta, Canada, Constellation expects to receive about $266 million in cash. The facility in Alberta also makes some other Canadian whisky brands.

Constellation Brands president and CEO Bill Newlands says the decision to sell Black Velvet aligns with his company’s strategy to focus its wine and spirits portfolio on higher-end, fast-growing brands. He says the Victor-based company is "relentlessly focused on the consumer and building a portfolio of brands consumers love today, while pushing beyond to meet their evolving needs well into the future."

Newlands says that for Heaven Hill, Black Velvet is a historic, well-known and high-volume brand that complements their portfolio.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.