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C.A.O. International, which was started as a hobby in 1968 by Cano A. Ozgener (initials: C.A.O.) was sold to ST Cigar Group, a division of Denmark’s Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni, effective January 1. The announcement was made last week.
 The two companies were certainly not strangers to each other, as Loretta Cigars Ltd. of Great Britain, a part of the ST Cigar Group, had been importing and distributing C.A.O. products since March 2004.
ST Cigar Group was formed in 1996 when Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni, owners of the well-known Nobel small-cigar brand, acquired Holland’s Henri Wintermans Sigarenfabrieken. The company focused only on machine-made small cigars under the Café Creme, Henri Wintermans and Nobel brand names. During its 2005-06 fiscal year, it sold more than 1.3 billion cigars in more than 100 countries, garnering revenues of 1.834 billion Danish Kronor (about $318 million U.S.). By comparison, cigar sales for Altadis, the worldwide cigar-sales leader was $1.14 billion U.S. in 2005 and Swedish Match, the world’s second-largest cigar-sales company by revenue, totaled sales of $467.1 million U.S. for 2005, the last full year for which figures are available.
C.A.O. was formed by Ozgener as a meerschaum pipe-making company, but became best known for its all-wood humidors introduced in 1990. As cigars took off later in the decade, Ozgener introduced the C.A.O. brand, working with respected cigarmakers Carlos Torano and Nestor Plasencia.
The brand really took off after the Cigar Boom faded and Ozgener was able to maintain good quality and reasonable supplies at reasonable prices. Moreover, strong retail relationships were being built with a strong sales force led by Cano’s son Tim, who became President of C.A.O. last year. The company is also well known for its endless promotional efforts, including a loud (if not the loudest) cigar-company party at the annual Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show, its touring team of shapely “Flavourettes” and sharp marketing of high-profile specialty cigars such as its C.A.O. “The Sopranos” Edition, licensed from HBO and which debuted in 2005.
Cano contracted lymphoma in 2002 and his workload has lessened as he continues to battle the disease.
The “new” C.A.O. will likely not change dramatically since its products and those of its parent company do not conflict. However, C.A.O.’s sales staff will undoubtedly pick up responsibility (eventually) for the marketing of Henri Wintermans and Nobel small cigars in the U.S.; both brands are currently distributed by Davidoff of Geneva. C.A.O. handmade cigars will no doubt begin appearing with a higher profile in ST Cigar Group markets such as Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and in emerging markets such as Russia, Poland, Ukraine and in Southeast Asia.
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