Financing distilled alcohol producer

Whisky, gin, vodka, rum, eaux-de-vie, liqueurs

The spirits sector ties up capital in barrels, incurs excise duties, requires large inventories and a sustained marketing effort. PrestaFlex structures customized financing for distilleries, bottlers, brands, traders and D2C/retail platforms, from CHF 100,000 to 60 mio.

Your needs, our solutions

  • Cash & tax (excise): revolving (CHF 250k-8 mio, 12-36 months), excise/VAT bridge (CHF 100k-7 mio, 1-6 months).
  • Stocks & aging: ABL barrels & bottles inventory
    - ageing barrels: advance 40-65% - unacclimatized finished products: 50-70% - acclimatized finished products: 60-75%.
  • Accounts receivable: factoring (line CHF 300k-25 mio, advance 80-90%, DSO 45-90 d) + reverse factoring (capacity CHF 1-30 mio).
  • Capex & modernization: leasing (stills, bottling lines; CHF 300k-12 mio, 3-7 years) and term loan (CHF 1-25 mio, 5-10 years).
  • Energy & sustainability: green loans/ESCO (CHF 250k-6 mio, payback 3-6 years).
  • Brand & export: innovation loan/NPD (CHF 150k-3 mio), trade finance (LC/SBLC up to 30 mio), revenue-based for D2C (CHF 100k-2 mio).
  • External growth: unitranche/mezzanine (CHF 3-25 mio, 5-7 years), LBO/acquisitions (CHF 5-60 mio).

Typical figures

  • EBITDA: 10-25% depending on positioning.
  • WCR: DIO 120-1'000+ d (aging), DSO 45-90 d, DPO 30-75 d.
  • Leverage: ND/EBITDA 2.0-4.5x (more if barrels well insured/audited).

Quick examples

  • Gin premium: leasing CHF 1.1 mio (60 months) + revolving CHF 900k → +40% capacity, -3% cost of glassware.
  • Monetization of 3,500 kegs (4-8 years): ABL CHF 6.5 mio at 55% → cash NPD/export without dilution.
  • Rum export/duty free: trade finance CHF 3 mio + factoring CHF 4 mio (85% advance) → WCR -28 days.

Contact us to launch your project

Explain your inventory profile (barrels/finished), your customer lead times and your priority capex: we'll send you back a costed, scalable financing structure aligned with your strategy (domestic, export, duty free, D2C).

Contact PrestaFlex now:

An article by Munur Aslan, Managing Director of PrestaFlex

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