With two Polmos distilleries up for grabs, five firms fight it out for control

"Five companies have been shortlisted to carry out due diligence. Those entities have time until May 4 to place their final offers," said Józef Kapela, president of Polmos Bielsko-Biała. However, the strongest candidate and most likely purchaser of the two plants seems to be the UK-owned Diageo. "We are also considering other options for operating in Poland," said Maciej Bednarczyk, a Diageo Polska board member. If the two Polmos distilleries are sold separately, then one of the plants will have to sell the other one its share of the rights to the Extra-Żytnia vodka brand. It is hoped that the privatization process, which started almost three years ago, will be concluded within the first half of 2004. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 5) M.M.