Czech PM: state-owned brewer Budvar unlikely to be put up for sale before mid 2010

The Czech state-owned brewery Budejovicky Budvar NP is not likely to be sold by the current government, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Tuesday. The brewery has been fighting a long legal battle with U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. over the Budweiser brand, and last year the Czech government announced it would work to prepare Budvar for privatization. First the brewer has to be transformed into a joint-stock company from the current national enterprise to make the privatization legally possible. That has yet to happen. Topolanek said Tuesday after meeting Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovic, whose ministry is in charge of the state-owned company, that it was not likely that his government, whose term in office is to end in mid-2010, would be able to complete Budvar's privatization. Earlier this month,... [read full story]