Champagne Indage buys UK wine supplier

MUMBAI May 19 (Reuters) - Wine maker Champagne Indage Ltd CHIN.BO has acquired the assets of UK-based wine supplier, Darlington Wines, strengthening its overseas presence, the Indian company said on Monday.

"The consolidated assets will give us large scale route to market efficiency in a price competitive market such as the UK," Champagne Managing Director Ranjit Chougule said in a statement.

Darlington Wines, acquired through Champagne Indage's overseas unit, imports wines under its own label and also bottles, warehouses and distributes them.

Darlington Wines' production and bottling facility -- Corby Bottlers -- supplies bag-in-box wines to major supermarkets in the United Kingdom, including J. Sainsbury Group.

Champagne Indage had said last week its units planned to acquire wine businesses in South Africa, U.K. and South Australia, giving it control over about 200 million litres capacity worldwide. (Reporting by Jasudha Kirpalani, Editing by Rosemary Arackaparambil)