Vodka Maker Soyuz Viktan Puts Off 2007 London IPO

One of Ukraine’s largest vodka makers, Soyuz Viktan, announced yesterday that it was putting off plans to hold an IPO  for a 20% stake in London in 2007, mainly due to the licensing problems the company faced on the Russian market last year.  In place of the sale, the company’s Chairman Andriy Okhlopkov said Soyuz Viktan was looking into the possibility of making a USD 150 mln Eurobond sale in the second half of the year.  Imports of foreign alcohol to Russia were stalled for several months last summer due to the implementation of a new electronic licensing program. The program was meant to help stop black market alcohol sales but ran into several technical and bureaucratic problems that all but emptied the country of foreign alcohol products.