Brand war ends
On Friday the long running brand name struggle between Polmos and Agros will come to an end. Agros will hand over to the Polmos companies the foreign rights for around twenty brands and in return the French Pernod Ricard, the main shareholder of Agros, will be able to buy Polmos Poznań from the treasury for around PLN400m.
From the state's point of view however it is not at all sure that it will be able to sell the Polmos companies any easier. One of the pit falls for any buyer in the privatisation process had been foreign ownership of the trade marks. Nonetheless a queue has not started to form outside the doors to the treasury in order to buy Polmos Białystok despite the fact that it is the domestic owner of the best selling brand abroad, Żubrówka. Indeed the only interest so far has been from Pernod Ricard although the company now says it will not bid for the company.
There are no takers either for Polmos Wrocław, which owns the Krakus brand, and the treasury has increased the time allowed to make offers for the company.
The Extra-Żytnia brand is owned jointly by the Polmos companies from Józefów and Bielska-Biała and the Jabłonna group and Atlas construction materials company have both put in bids for the latter. However it is a sure bet that they will not be offering more money for the rights to the Extra-Żytnia brand abroad.