STG Acquiring Mac Baren Tobacco Co. (Update)

Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) has announced that it has agreed to purchase Mac Baren Tobacco Co. A/S, a company best known for its pipe tobacco, from Halberg A/S.

The deal is valued at DKK 535 million ($76.84 million). STG says Mac Baren’s annual revenues through April 2024 were DKK 723 ($103.84 million) with an EBITDA—a measure of profits—of DKK 85 million ($12.21 million). Mac Baren’s pipe tobacco products include the eponymous Mac Baren label as well as Amphora and Holger Danske. It also has cut tobacco brands like Amsterdamer, Choice and Opal, and nicotine pouches. The company was founded in 1826.

Update (July 1, 2024) — STG says the deal has now closed.

Mac Baren’s connection to the cigar world is through Sutliff Tobacco Co., its U.S. subsidiary that operates a distribution company that works with around a dozen independent brands for distribution and fulfillment services out of its Richmond, Va. warehouse. For those companies, Sutliff stores their products in its facility, fulfills orders when they are placed and handles a lot of the other backend logistics. It’s unclear what will happen to that business, though that’s not a service STG is known for offering to other cigar brands.

STG has a diverse portfolio of cigar businesses, including retailers such as Cigars International, Cigar.com, Cigarbid.com, Thompson Cigar, PipesandCigars.com and Cigora. It also owns General Cigar Co. and Forged Cigar Co., which sell Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas and other brands in the U.S. In both the U.S. and international markets, it sells Agio, Alec Bradley, CAO, Macanudo, Room101, and Toraño.

“I am very pleased that we have taken this important step to strengthen our smoking tobacco business with the acquisition of Mac Baren,” said Niels Frederiksen, ceo of STG in a statement. “The acquisition will contribute to our already well-established position on the global market for pipe tobacco and will expand our attractive range of brands of the highest standards to our consumers. The combination with our existing business is expected to deliver meaningful synergies when fully integrated and good value for our shareholders.”

STG says that after closing, it will take 120 days to integrate the businesses. Mac Baren has approximately 200 employees, with production facilities in Svendborg, Denmark and Richmond.

This is the eighth acquisition STG has made in roughly six years:

• January 2018 — Thompson Cigar
• July 2018 — Peterson Pipe Group
• January 2020 — Agio
• November 2021 — Moderno Opificio del Sigaro Italiano
• June 2022 — Room101
• February 2023 — Alec Bradley
• April 2023 — XQS

STG is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Copenhagen. The company said this acquisition will not affect its guidance.

Update (July 1, 2024) — STG has announced that this deal has closed. This story was originally published on June 27, 2024.