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STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Sweden's Vin & Sprit, maker of Absolut vodka, will be sold to Pernod Ricard SA (12069.FR) of France for 55 billion Swedish kronor ($ 9.24 billion) including debt, the Swedish government said Monday.

"Pernod Ricard submitted an offer that is the most attractive, including offering the highest purchase price of the four final bids. We have achieved a very good transaction for V&S and for the Swedish people," said Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell.

The deal ends months of speculation over the 91-year-old vodka-maker's future, which is being sold as part of a larger Swedish privatization program to reduce government debt.

V&S, which reported 2007 net profit of SEK1.47 billion and revenue of SEK10.31 billion, sees significant industrial logic in the transaction. The company will continue to be based in Sweden after the transaction is completed in early summer 2008, Odell said.

Pernod Ricard will acquire the whole company, excluding V&S's 10% stake in Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., Absolut's U.S. distributor owned by Fortune Brands Inc. (FO), which will be sold to Fortune in the coming months, Odell said.

The purchase price will be paid in dollars and euros, consisting of $6.05 billion and EUR1.45 billion, and the sale proceeds will be used for government payments in foreign currencies.

"This acquisition represents an exceptional opportunity for Pernod Ricard and creates the co-leader in the global wine and spirits industry," Pernod said in a statement.

The French wine and spirits company said it expects "strong" synergies of EUR125 million to EUR150 million before taxes and that the impact of the acquisition on its net profit should be neutral for the first year, then " significantly positive" thereafter.

Absolut is the world's third-largest premium liquor in terms of volume, after Diageo PLC's (DEO) Smirnoff vodka and Bacardi rum, and the deal will mean the end of Pernod's distribution deal with Russian vodka-maker Stolichnaya. However, Pernod will continue distributing the Russian vodka over a short period of time to allow the Russian owner of Stolichnaya, SPI, to find a new distributor.

Until the Absolut deal, Pernod owned the global distribution rights of Stolichnaya, excluding Russia, and had been in talks with SPI and the Russian government for nearly three years to acquire the brand.

The sale is part of a larger asset sale by the Swedish State, which includes divesting stakes in telecommunications company TeliaSonera AB (TLSN.SK) and Nordea Bank AB (NDA.SK), as well as selling fully state-owned mortgage company SBAB and property company Vasakronan. The government has already sold its stake in stock exchange operator OMX to Borse Dubai and Nasdaq (NDAQ).

Three other bidders took part of the due diligence process leading up to the binding bids. Fortune Brands, Bacardi International Ltd. of Bermuda, and Swedish private equity group EQT, working together with investment firm Investor AB ( INVE-B.SK) were also interested in the distiller.

Company Web site: http://www.vsgroup.com

-By Ian Edmondson, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3094; ian.edmondson@ dowjones.com

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  03-31-08 0405ET
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