Fortune buys V&S's Beam stake for $464 million

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. spirits group Fortune Brands (FO.N) has bought Vin & Sprit's VSG.UL 10 percent stake in Fortune's Beam Global Spirits & Wine for 2.8 billion Swedish crowns ($464 million), the Swedish government said on Friday.

France's Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA) in March won a battle to buy Absolut Vodka maker V&S from the Swedish state, beating out Fortune, the producer of Jim Beam bourbon and majority owner of wine and spirits company Beam Global.

The 5.6 billion euro ($8.8 billion) Pernod deal did not include V&S's holding in Beam.

Fortune had been looking to exercise a clause allowing it to buy V&S's Beam stake, but the sides had been unable to agree on a price.

Swedish Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell said in a statement the government pocketed a total 58 billion crowns for the assets of V&S -- including the Beam holding -- which will go toward paying down debt.

"It (the sale of V&S as a whole) is a good deal ... We are very pleased with it," Odell spokeswoman Sarah Lundgren said on Friday.

Sweden is conducting its largest-ever privatization of state assets, an effort the government hopes will net it 200 billion crowns over the course of its four-year mandate.

So far, the state has sold or agreed to sell assets worth roughly 119 billion crowns.

V&S spokesman Jacob Broberg said Fortune had offered $350 million for the Beam holding while V&S wanted $1.1 billion, which would include "a few $100s (of millions)" in debt.

"The price established for the repurchase of the equity minority interest is good news for our shareholders," Fortune Chief Executive Bruce Carbonari said in the firm's quarterly earnings report on Friday.

"Because this valuation was below the $543 million value we carry on our books, we have recorded a gain in our second quarter results," he said.

Pernod said on Wednesday it had closed the V&S acquisition.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Quentin Bryar/Rory Channing)