Czechs take step toward potential Budvar sale

...a step towards its eventual privatisation, the Farm Ministry said on Friday.

The company, Budejovicky Budvar, has been held in state hands due to numerous trademark disputes with the U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch .

It is a national enterprise, a form of ownership dating back to the Communist era which ended in 1989.

The brewery is based in the southern city of Ceske Budejovice, or "Budweis" in German.

"We want to start transforming the national enterprise into a joint stock company," Farm Minister Petr Gandalovic said in a statement.

"We must take some step like that to make room for further development of the brewery regardless of its ownership," he added.

The ministry said the conversion would be part of preparations for an eventual sale, which would however come only after a resolution of the trademark disputes.

Anheuser-Busch, the largest U.S. brewer, sells beer under the "Budweiser" and "Bud Light" brands, competing with the "Budweiser Budvar" brand used by the Czech brewer. The Czech firm also sells a strong lager under the "Bud Super Strong" brand.

Successive governments have in the past shunned the idea of privatisation on concerns the company would be bought by Anheuser-Busch and lose the trademark, or its position in export markets, in favour of the American firm.

Budvar had sales of 2.5 billion crowns ($119.4 million) last year.