NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

Best Places to Work 2008 Awards Reception

September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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Hot market for wineries topic of conference

SANTA ROSA – With some wine companies selling recently at prices with high multiples of earnings and about half of family-owned California wine firms projected to change hands in the next decade, several vintners and professionals who have been through such transactions will be offering insights at North Bay Business Journal’s 2008 Wine Conference.

The April 9 conference, titled “Wine Industry Mergers and Acquisitions Market: Should I Stay or Should I Go?” will feature William Price III, speaking on the environment for wine mergers and acquisitions, what drove value in the recent deals and how to position a winery to sell for top dollar.

Mr. Price co-founded Texas Pacific Group, now TPG Capital LP, a private-equity firm that bought Beringer from Nestle, took it public and sold it to Foster’s Group for $1.5 billion.

He owns Durell Vineyard in the Carneros and Sonoma Valley appellations and founded Sonoma-based label Three Sticks Winery in 2002. In January he took a minority stake in Kistler Vineyards.

Mr. Price will be followed by a panel discussion on preparing a wine company for sale or fortifying it for generations to come. Panelists include: Sam Bronfman, president of Bacchus Capital; Daniel Duckhorn, chairman and founder of Duckhorn Wine Co., in which private-equity firm GI Partners acquired a majority stake last summer for an estimated $250 million; Peter Seghesio, CEO and winegrower of Seghesio Family Vineyards, which is set to remain in the family; and Violet Grgich, proprietor and vice president of Grgich Hills Estate, started by her father, Mike Grgich of 1976 Paris tasting fame.

The event will be held at Vintner’s Inn in Santa Rosa. Registration costs $45 a person and begins at 7:30 a.m. The program runs until 11:30 a.m.

To register, call 707-579-2900 ext. 211 by April 4, or register online at www

.NorthBayBusinessJournal.com.

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