Public, private buyers make overtures on Vin & Sprit

STOCKHOLM, March 9 (Reuters) - Pernod-Ricard (PERP.PA), Bacardi and U.S. holding company Fortune Brands FO.N have told Sweden's government they are keen on buying Absolut vodka maker Vin & Sprit, a government spokeswoman said on Friday.

Officials handling the process have also received approaches from an unspecified number of private equity funds, said a source close to the sales process.

"Pernod and Bacardi have come in with letters expressing their interest in Vin & Sprit, and in addition Fortune Brands have orally expressed interest," said Mia Widell, press secretary for Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell.

Of the firms soon to be sold off in Sweden's largest-ever privatisation push, 90-year-old Vin & Sprit has drawn the largest contingent of publicly declared suitors.

Analysts have said the company could be worth between $5 billion and $6 billion.

The centre-right administration last week asked parliamentary permission to sell the world's third-biggest spirits maker, along with mortgage lender SBAB and Sweden's largest real estate firm Vasakronan.

It already has leave to sell state-owned shares in listed firms TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST), Nordea Bank (NDA.ST), and bourse operator OMX .OMX.

The government hopes the sales push will raise 150 billion Swedish crowns ($21.22 billion) for debt reduction over three years but analysts believe it could fetch much more.

A source close to the sales process told Reuters private equity funds were eyeing Vin & Sprit as well.

The government has "received propositions from the private equity side," the source said without giving further details.

U.S. holding company Fortune Brands, pegged by analysts as Vin & Sprit's most likely buyer because of an existing deal with the Swedish firm, declined on Thursday to comment on Absolut.

"In the spirits category, we are interested in acquiring under the right set of circumstances, but we are not commenting on Absolut," Fortune Chief Financial Officer Craig Omtvedt said during the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago.

The drinks arm of Fortune Brands already has close ties with Vin & Sprit through a joint venture called Future Brands, Absolut's U.S. distributor, while Vin & Sprit owns 10 percent of Fortune's Beam Global Spirits & Wine.

Government spokeswoman Widell did not confirm an earlier report from Associated Press that American giant Diageo (DGE.L), the world's largest spirits maker, had contacted the government about the possibility of buying Vin & Sprit.