Diageo, the global spirits company, and Pernod Ricard of France announced yesterday that they had signed a joint venture agreement covering their bidding arrangements for Seagram's wine and spirits businesses. The two groups have finalised the details on the division of the Seagram portfolio should they succeed in the auction, which is expected to raise between $7bn (£4.87bn) and $9bn. Other contenders for Seagram are Allied Domecq, the Beefeater gin and Kahlua liqueur maker that has formed a strategic alliance with a Puerto Rican producer which, in theory, gives it the right of first refusal to Captain Morgan and an alliance between the privately owned Bacardi and Brown Forman of the US. The deadline for formal bids to be submitted is Monday, and Seagram is expected to select a preferred bidder by the end of the year.
