REPORT CLAIMS PERNOD IS FAST APPROACHING STOLI DEADLINE

Russian newspaper “Kommersant International” is reporting that SPI Group (owners of Stoli) is negotiating with companies other than Pernod to purchase its Stoli brand. This latest development comes after SPI has been unable to reach an agreement with Pernod by an previously-established deadline. As you’ll recall, Pernod and SPI struck a deal in 2005 that gave Pernod the distribution rights to Stoli outside of Russia and most notably the US, with the exclusive rights to buy the trademark. Since then,