SPI Group eyes purchase of CEDC
SPI Group, the owner of Stolichnaya Vodka, has expressed an interest in moving in on beleaguered spirits producer Central European Distribution Corp (CEDC).
SPI Group, the owner of Stoli vodka, is eyeing up the prospects of purchasing CEDCThe Luxembourg-based spirits group, which owns two sets of CEDC notes, announced today it had begun discussions with several “strong financial players” in Russia with a view to obtaining the CEDC business.
Last week CEDC, which has been struggling with on-going debt, began offering stock to creditors to help cover up to US$750m of its debts.
“We are carefully observing the situation around CEDC,” said Val Mendeleev, CEO of SPI Group. “We have already begun preliminary discussions with a few strong financial players in Russia who could be interested in considering the CEDC business together with us.
“While our evaluation is ongoing, we are confident in our ability to pursue potential alternatives with respect to CEDC, if we decide to do so.”
The US-based spirits group’s problems resulted in it relinquishing financial control to Russian Standard owner Roustam Tariko in January in return for up to $65m in funding.
