Oaktree Reportedly Pressing Ahead With Stock Spirits IPO

With Diageo reportedly calling off its pursuit of an acquisition of Central European spirits group Stock Spirits last month, Stock now appears headed for an IPO. Los Angeles-based majority owner Oaktree Capital Management will float 30%-50% of Stock as a public company in Warsaw in June, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters.

Last month, Bloomberg News asserted Oaktree had retained UniCredit SpA and Nomura Holdings Inc to handle preparations for Stock’s IPO, following Diageo’s demurral over Stock’s asking price of around $1 billion. Neither Oaktree nor Diageo has commented publicly on the matter.

Stock operates mainly in Poland and Czech Republic with its Czysta de Luxe vodka, Stock brandies and Limonce liqueur brands. In Poland, Czysta de Luxe is among the leading vodka brands with volume up 4% to 5.4 million cases in 2010 against a declining market, according to Impact Databank.

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