Pernod Ricard subsidiary Agros has won its legal battle to retain the export rights to top Polish vodka brands including Wyborowa and Zubrowka. Under a controversial Polish law, the export rights to a whole raft of vodka brands were removed from Agros and awarded to the producers. This has been overturned by the Polish Supreme Court. To ensure it retained export rights to Wyborowa even if it lost its legal battle, Pernod had bid for Polmos Poznan, the regional distillery that makes Wyborowa. It was also expected to bid for Polmos Bialystock which makes top brands Zubrowka and Absolvent. But joint MD Pierre Pringuet said Pernod was now “solely interested in Wyborowa”, had “no plans” to bid for Bialystock and “little interest” in clinging on to export rights for lesser brands it didn’t actually own. “We don’t want to have a monopoly on these brands. Our strategy is to produce the brands we sell.” Pernod is now negotiating a deal to transfer all of Agros’ export rights (excluding those for Wyborowa) back to the distilleries. Contrary to news reports, “they are not going for free” added Pringuet. Owning Polmos Poznan will give Pernod complete control of the Wyborowa brand as well as the rights to sell it in the domestic market. {{NEWS }}
