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About SPI Group
History
A brief history of the group from its genesis in 1997 to the present day
The genesis of the SPI Group was the deal, in 1997, to buy a formerly-privatised intellectual property business that owned the brands to a number of historic Russian spirits.
Yury Shefler, a young Russian businessman, had a vision of building an integrated spirits business – controlling everything from production to distribution and sales. Through a series of deals he added distilleries, a retail network in Russia and the Baltic states and significantly developed an international distribution arm. The plan was straightforward: to pull together the tremendous expertise in the production of spirits that was available in these Russian companies and then grow the brands in the rapidly expanding western market.
Yury Shefler was the driving force behind the establishment of the SPI Group. After leaving the Russian army in September 1987, he studied at the Russian Academy of Economy before starting a business career which has included running one of Moscow`s leading shopping malls and heading Vnukovo Airlines. In 1997 he bought a company that became the heart of what has grown into SPI today.
There was a lot of work to do. Under the previous owners, quality had suffered and little thought had been given to a coherent marketing approach with serious investment behind it. As a result, market share was under attack from other international vodka producers and export volumes had begun to fall. Through the investment of tens of millions of dollars, we re-built the expertise needed to improve quality. We acquired modern production lines and the highest quality equipment for our laboratories. With those improvements we were able to reverse the fall in export volume development.
We have reorganised the disparate parts of the business to ensure quality management discipline and the enforcement of the best business practices. We have taken a fresh look at our business partnerships and our marketing to ensure that all the brands are positioned for growth. Simultaneously we have taken great steps to stop counterfeit and illegal production under our brand names.
Through the deals led by Yury Shefler and the work carried out since, SPI has become one of Russia’s largest spirits companies, the world’s largest exporter of Russian vodkas and one of the most important drinks groups in the world. Our agriculture interests mean we are one of the leading forces in Russian agriculture whilst property development has brought a whole new focus to the group.