S&M Brands, the cigarette company owned by the Bailey family, has been sold. The Baileys are best known to the cigar industry as the owners of Cornelius & Anthony. While the Baileys have exited the cigarette brand business, they will remain the sole owners of Cornelius & Anthony, and will also keep their tobacco-growing and brokerage business.
The transaction was first reported in early March. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In addition, the buyer of S&M Brands is not being disclosed. S&M is best known for cigarettes such as Bailey’s, Tahoe’s and Riverside.
The Baileys have been in the tobacco business growing and brokering tobacco dating back to the 1860s. They entered the cigarette business in 1994, founding S&M Brands. Run by Steven Bailey and his father Mac Bailey, the brand had been primarily a regional one found in stores in the Southeastern United States. Cornelius & Anthony was launched in 2014 as a separate company and it’s the Bailey family’s foray into the premium cigar business.
The sale included the cigarette manufacturing equipment. 87 employees were laid off as a part of the transaction. A severance package has been reported of one million dollars to be divided among the employees.
If they’re staying in the cigar biz, why have they fired their sales reps? Why are they skipping the Vegas trade show?
The Scoop With Coop News – KMA Talk Radio
[…] Courtney Smith and Todd Vance, two key players at Cornelius & Anthony, are no longer with the company. The move came yesterday as result of a shakeup of the sales force within the company. Smith was Cornelius & Anthony’s Smith Director of Business Development. She came to the company in 2015 after spending five years as Vice President at La Palina Cigars. During her tenure, much of the brand development that took place at Cornelius & Anthony was under her watch. Vance came to Cornelius & Anthony a few months after Smith as the company’s Director of Sales. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Sales at AJ Fernandez Cigars. In a letter to retailers, the company said “Courtney and Todd played a vital role in the launch and expansion of Cornelius & Anthony. Their industry insight was significant to our growth and we wish them success in their future endeavors.” In addition, Cigar Coop has learned that most of the salaried sales force has been let go, but the cigar brokers who represented the brand have remained. The move comes almost two months after the Bailey family, who owns Cornelius & Anthony sold its cigarette operation, S&M Brands. […]