The negotiations may finally settle scores of lawsuits over the Stolichnaya brand around the world.
Photo: Sergey Mikheev
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Pernod Ricard to Buy Stolichnaya
Pernod Ricard, the world’s largest alcohol operator, said yesterday it is negotiating solving the long-standing dispute over rights on Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodka brands with Russia. The SPI group that holds rights on Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya said the Stolichnaya will be sold to Pernod Ricard, if the talks go through.
Pernod Ricard S.A. and Soyuzplodimport which represents Russia announced the start of talks on “the joint strategy of developing a number of trade marks such as the Stolichnaya brand”. The negotiations may finally settle scores of lawsuits over the Stolichnaya brand around the world. The parties gave no details of the talks.
Soyuzplodimport owns about fifty famous Soviet vodka brands. The conflict over Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya arose in 2001. Forty-three vodka trade marks (Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya, Russkaya and others) were re-registered for the Agriculture Ministry representing the Russian Federation following trials between the ministry and the SPI group. Later, the rights were handed to the state-owned Soyuzplodimport for asset management. SPI, however, retained rights on the disputable brands in most countries. Virtually all Stolichnaya’s sales are controlled by SPI which handed the sales rights to Pernod Ricard. Sales of Stolichnaya in the United States are estimated at $375 million, and $100 million in other countries, apart from Russia.
Pernod Ricard hinted that successful negotiations with Soyuzplodimport would help them negotiate the purchase of Stolichnaya. SPI said they were willing to sell rights for Stolichnaya to Pernod Ricard if they are satisfied with the sum of the deal offered and if the agreement with Russian officials is reached. Analysts estimate the deal’s worth at some ˆ500-600 million.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 19, 2006
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