Polmos distillers all but guaranteed investors in H1

At least eight of the domestic Polmos distillers stand a good chance of finding strategic investors in the first half of this year, with so far already eight sector players having submitted offers, according to the Treasury Ministry. Among them is French spirits producer Pernod Ricard with its eyes on the Polmos plant in Poznan, one of two domestic distillers most advanced in the privatization process. It is expected that Pernod Ricard will pay as much as $100 million for the Poznan-based distiller, or one-fifth to one-sixth of the total value of the domestic spirits market. The other Polmos company close to changing hands is based in Lublin and has attracted Grupa Jablonna, a company belonging to businessmen Janusz Palikota and Wes Skrobowski and the Dutch spirits maker Bols. The official winner of the tender for Polmos Lublin will be known on 28 February. Another company seeking to take control of the Polmos plant in Starogard Szczecinski is French Belvedere, which is also in the running for the Sieradz and Zyrardow Polmos operations. Other investors taking part in the race for Polmos plants are American Philips Millennium, importer of Polmos Zyrardow's Belvedere label of vodka, Adamba in cooperation with Undenberg, Bols and a consortium of Eckes and Vin & Spirit. (Puls Biznesu, p.9) J.K.