CEDC toasts success
Central European Distribution Corporation (CEDC) was cracking open the champagne after it sealed a deal for a 61-percent stake in Polmos Białystok (PB) with the Treasury Ministry.
CEDC had to pay a premium price for the Polish vodka maker, and stumped up zł.146.5 per share, some zł.1.063 billion in total. This was 85 percent more than the stock's closing price last Monday, when the deal was announced.
PB is Poland's second largest vodka producer, and owns the Żubrówka brand. It is the last major distillery to be privatized but the deal was a long time coming. CEDC had struck a deal with Białystok's unions, which included 10-year job guarantees and privatization bonuses for all workers that came to 10 months' wages.
PB controls about 20 percent of the Polish vodka market, and CEDC already has 11 percent, thanks to the Bols brand it bought from Remy Cointreau earlier this year.
Analysts had expected CEDC to pay a premium for control of the distiller, which will allow it to become the top player in the Polish vodka market, the world's fourth largest after Russia, the US and Ukraine.
To help finance the takeover, CEDC is to offer a seven-year, 300 million euro-denominated eurobond. (Reuters)
CEDC had to pay a premium price for the Polish vodka maker, and stumped up zł.146.5 per share, some zł.1.063 billion in total. This was 85 percent more than the stock's closing price last Monday, when the deal was announced.
PB is Poland's second largest vodka producer, and owns the Żubrówka brand. It is the last major distillery to be privatized but the deal was a long time coming. CEDC had struck a deal with Białystok's unions, which included 10-year job guarantees and privatization bonuses for all workers that came to 10 months' wages.
PB controls about 20 percent of the Polish vodka market, and CEDC already has 11 percent, thanks to the Bols brand it bought from Remy Cointreau earlier this year.
Analysts had expected CEDC to pay a premium for control of the distiller, which will allow it to become the top player in the Polish vodka market, the world's fourth largest after Russia, the US and Ukraine.
To help finance the takeover, CEDC is to offer a seven-year, 300 million euro-denominated eurobond. (Reuters)
