Bacardi Reportedly Accuses Jay-Z Of Exaggerating The Valuation Of His Ownership Stake In D'Ussé

Bacardi reportedly has some words for billionaire Jay-Z.

As Afrotech previously told you, the billionaire was believed to be interested in selling his 50/50 D’Usse stake beginning last year.

“According to docs, Jay’s company, SC Liquor, exercised its right to a buyout about a year ago. Under their agreement, Bacardi now has to ‘negotiate in good faith to come up with a fair price for Jay’s stake in D’Ussé,” TMZ reports.

Good faith might not be good enough. It was reported he was looking for the necessary documents that could provide financial transparency that explains how much their partnership is truly worth.

According to TMZ, Bacardi has responded to Jay-Z’s request and has provided over 800 pages of financial documents. However, they will not be disclosing any additional documents as it pertains solely to Bacardi’s stake in the company, apart from the D’Ussé partnership.

A lawsuit was also filed as Jay-Z’s company, SC Liquor, is looking to “monitor the conduct of [Bacardi’s] business to protect SC’s rights as” it pertains to the partnership.

TMZ also states Bacardi’s subsidiary Empire Investments has provided further context to the lawsuit. They claimed there was a “handshake deal” made in December 2021. Empire Investments also claimed they were willing to sign off on an agreement to purchase Jay-Z’s stake in the partnership.

However, the company claims Jay-Z was the first to pull the plug on the agreement. Additionally, they claimed he was looking for double the valuation of his share in the partnership.

A statement provided to TMZ reads he “abruptly reneged on its agreement and doubled its demanded valuation.”

Reportedly, Bacardi alleges Jay-Z attempted to “outrageously inflate” the price.

It was not made clear by either party what number was initially the placeholder in their agreement.

Source : afrotech.com