U.S. V&S bidder would put spirits HQ in Sweden: report

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. Fortune Brands (FO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would headquarter its international spirits business in Sweden if its bid for the country's state-owned Vin & Sprit group is accepted, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter cited two separate unidentified sources as saying the U.S. spirits maker, one of four rivals to submit final offers for the maker of Absolut vodka this week, had included in its bid a pledge to locate the headquarters of its international spirits business in Stockholm.

The Swedish government, which is seen unveiling the winner in the Vin & Sprit auction in the coming weeks, has said price is the paramount consideration, but it is widely expected it would look kindly on a solution which kept much of the operations on Swedish soil.

"The central functions, such as the legal operations, book-keeping, marketing, PR and distribution would be placed here (in Sweden)," one of the paper's sources was quoted as saying in reference to Fortune Brands' bid.

The report comes days after a source close to the situation told Reuters one of Fortune Brands' contenders for Vin & Sprit -- Sweden-based private equity firm EQT -- hoped to gain an edge over foreign rivals by stressing the benefits of keeping Vin & Sprit in Swedish hands.

Dagens Nyheter said Fortune Brands' offer to headquarter the international spirits operations in Sweden was also motivated by plans to expand Absolut sales across the Baltic Sea in Russia and the former Soviet republics on its borders.

Besides Fortune Brands and EQT, which has teamed up with holding company Investor AB (INVEb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) on a bid, France's Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bermuda-based Bacardi have submitted final offers for Vin & Sprit which the Swedish government is selling as part of the country's biggest ever privatisation.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard)