French vodka company battles for right to Belvedere name

After losing a court battle for the rights to the Belvedere-vodka brand name, French company Belvedere now hopes to acquire the brand by taking over Polmos Zyrardow, current owner of the brand name. Belvedere has not given up on its previous plans to bid for Polmos Zyrardow, Polmos Sieradz and Koneser distilleries when they come up for privatization, even though it may have to pay a lot more for these companies than it had originally expected to. Belvedere president Jacques Rouvroy originally valued the three companies at $27.5 million, but now they could be worth a lot more as the Belvedere brand name itself is worth more than this. In addition, because the Koneser distillery owns very attractive historical real estate, this could attract a lot of real-estate investors. The major obstacle to acquiring the Belevedere brand name for vodka, though, is the Treasury. It does not look favorably upon Belvedere as a potential investor in Polmos Zyrardow. However, so far only the French company has placed a bid. (Puls Biznesu, page 7) T.J.