Agreement signals an end to ten-year vodka dispute

The long-running brand-name dispute between Agros Holding and the Polmos companies appears to be nearing an end. Puls Biznesu reports that an agreement has been reached between Agros, the main shareholder in Pernod Ricard of France, and Poland's domestic alcohol producers, under which in return for handing over to the Polmos the overseas rights to some twenty Polish alcohol brands, Agros will be permitted to buy an 80% stake in Polmos Poznan, Poland's second biggest spirit producer. The cost to Agros will be around zl.400 million. Under the deal, Pernod Ricard will also secure the rights to the well-known "Wyborowa" brand. The agreement, which will be signed on Friday, will end a ten-year struggle between Agros and the Polmos. Analysts suggest, however, that the removal of the obstacle created by the foreign ownership of the trade marks may not have the desired result of making the privatization of the Polmos any easier. The transfer of the rights to the 20 brands is likely to take several years, and according to Agros estimates, their combined value is less than zl.400,000. As a result, the analysts predict that even the producer of the best-selling "Zubrowka" vodka, Polmos Bialystok, will not be very attractive to investors. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1,4,38) M.K.