Pernod Spirits High After $8.3B Absolut Buy

French company pays $8.3B for premium vodka brand
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 31, 2008 9:14 AM CDT
Pernod Spirits High After $8.3B Absolut Buy
Absolut Vodka sold to Pernod for a winning bid of $8.3 billion.   (Getty Images)

French liquor giant Pernod Ricard's spirits were soaring after its $8.34 billion bid won it ownership of Sweden's state-owned Vin & Spirit, the parent company of Absolut vodka. Pernod topped US-based Fortune Brands in an auction for the purchase, the Wall Street Journal reports, and is now the wine and spirit industry's co-leader.

Pernod set its sights on Absolut, the world’s third-biggest-selling spirit behind Smirnoff vodka and Bacardi rum, to enhance its premium vodka line. The V&S sale is the latest in a spate of liquor industry-consolidations over the past several years, and is the first major deal since credit woes brought mergers and acquisitions to a relative standstill. (More acquisition stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X