Whether Absolut is going to be sold by auction has not been settled yet; however, a few companies have already placed their bids, and Khortytsa, a major Ukrainian strong drinks producer, was one of those.
Vadim Drobiz, the spokesperson for the Union of Strong Drink Market Players, says the tender might never take place after all. ‘The global liquor market is experiencing a huge vodka boom at the moment, and this boom is likely to last for a decade or so, which means the price Absolut can be bought at now ($5.5bn) is going to rise by $1bn a year on average. So the brand is bound to cost much more in just two or three years’ time, and I don’t think the Swedish business is oblivious of this,’ Mr. Drobiz explains.


'In theory, Khortytsa might become the brand owner either through a share fund or investors,’ he adds.


Khortytsa’s Marketing Director Sergey Velichko notes he doesn’t see why the media have been so skeptical about their plans.


'We are the world’s third largest strong drinks producer (according to the Drinks International magazine’s rating for 2006), and we are likely to become the second largest one this year, outstripping no other but Absolut. So why are people surprised at what we are planning on? I guess it’s just that something of this sort is happening for the first time now, so some media just think we are only looking for some kind of publicity,’ he observes.