Fortune says logical step to buy Absolut maker: paper
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - It would be a logical step for Fortune Brands Inc. (FO.N) to buy Absolut maker Vin & Sprit, which the Swedish government plans to sell, a Swedish daily on Saturday quoted Fortune's top executive as saying.
The U.S.-based home fixtures, golf equipment and liquor maker, which owns no leading vodka brand, has earlier said it would take a close look at the opportunity to build on its current partnership with Vin & Sprit.
Business daily Dagens Industri said Fortune's Chief Executive and Chairman Norm Wesley this week met with "key persons in the sale process".
"We have cooperated for a long time with Vin & Sprit ... It would be a natural and logical step after our close cooperation if we bought Vin & Sprit," Dagens Industri quoted him as saying.
Analysts have said Vin & Sprit could be worth $5 billion to $6 billion, with the key prize being Absolut, the world's second-best selling vodka after Diageo Plc's (DGE.L) Smirnoff.
"Absolut would be our biggest brand. But we are also very interested in other brands in Vin & Sprit's portfolio, such as Plymouth Gin and Cruzan Rom," Wesley said.
"We have the financial flexibility to buy all or parts of Vin & Sprit, depending on how the Swedish government decides to do the sale".
Fortune Brands has a partnership with Vin & Sprit since 2001, and Vin & Sprit holds a minority equity stake in Fortune's spirits and wine business.
"We would just continue to develop Vin & Sprit together with the current competent management," Wesley said.
"Brands like Absolut are built over a long time and it would just be stupid to try to change the brand's Swedish profile or to move production".
Sweden's centre-right government, which took power last year, also plans to sell two other fully state-owned firms and stakes in telecoms operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST), bourse group OMX OMX.ST and bank Nordea (NDA.ST) in the country's biggest privatization push.
Vin & Sprit has also drawn interest from drinks giants Pernod-Ricard (PERP.PA) and privately held Bacardi, and from private equity funds.
