(Bloomberg) - Bacardi Ltd., the closely held maker of Bacardi rum, made itself more attractive in a possible initial public offering with its acquisition on Sunday of Grey Goose, the biggest-selling superpremium vodka in the US.

"If and when we would do an IPO, this company would make us much more valuable, much more attractive," Bacardi Chairman Ruben Rodriguez, 67, said in a telephone interview from Hamilton, Bermuda. The company has no plans to sell shares, he said.

Bacardi, the world's largest maker of rum, negotiated to buy Grey Goose from Sidney Frank Importing Co. for more than $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Grey Goose will give Bacardi more than half of the US superpremium market, the fastest-growing vodka segment, said David Ozgo, chief economist at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

The purchase may spur earnings and help attract investors at Bacardi, which posted a 21 percent decline in profit last year, analysts said. The company in 2003 created two classes of stock, moving it closer to selling shares that may fetch as much as $7 billion.

"Given the weakness in its core business, this would goose up Bacardi's growth and profits, making the shares more attractive, in our view," Bryan Spillane, an analyst at Banc of America Securities in New York, wrote in a report.

Earlier this year, shareholders gave directors the power to issue shares without needing the specific approval of the families who own the business.

Bacardi would consider selling shares to finance "an acquisition that would add significant shareholder value and would warrant financing through an IPO," Rodriguez said.

The liquor maker is owned by about 600 shareholders whose annual meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Hamilton. Ninety- eight percent of those are part of the Bacardi family, which has controlled the business since it was founded in Cuba in 1862.

Bacardi's net earnings fell to $331 million last year from $417 million a year earlier because of one-time costs and declining sales in the ready-to-drink Bacardi Breezer business, company spokeswoman Pat Neal said.

US shipments of superpremium vodka, including Grey Goose, Fortune Brands Inc.'s Vox and Netherlands-based Nolet Distillery's Ketel One, grew 20 percent in 2003, more than twice as fast as US rum shipments such as Bacardi, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. The top vodkas sell for about $30 a bottle in some parts of the US.

Bacardi's Turi vodka, introduced in the US in 2002, has less than 1 percent of the superpremium market.

The purchase fills a "major gap in our portfolio," Rodriguez said. "This really puts us in the driver's seat in the category that is growing the most."

Adding Grey Goose will give Bacardi greater clout with distributors and accelerate sales of the brand, which has 3.4 percent of the US vodka market, according to Spillane.

Rodriguez declined to disclose annual sales of Grey Goose and terms of the transaction. A Sidney Frank spokeswoman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Vodka is the largest US liquor category, with 2003 shipments of 41.9 million cases, Ozgo said. Total US spirits shipments were 159 million cases and overall shipments rose 3.9 percent.

"We have returned to the day of the cocktail culture," said Ozgo, citing Home Box Office series "Sex in the City" for reviving sales after US demand for liquor had weakened in the 1990s. "Vodka is growing because it is the ultimate mixer."

Sales of Bacardi's major brands declined 5.2 percent to 76.5 million cases in 2003 from 80.7 million. Sales rose 6.5 percent to $3.3 billion, helped by currency gains.

Among the 2003 charges, Bacardi wrote off $36.9 million from interest-rate swaps used to hedge against rising rates. It spent $20.5 million on a new computer system.

In acquisitions since 1992, Bacardi has added Martini and Rossi vermouth, Dewar's Scotch whisky, Bombay and Bombay Sapphire gin, and Cazadores tequila. The company will consider buying additional brands, said Rodriguez, declining to be more specific.

"Right at this moment, we are going to digest this," he said. "We continue looking for any opportunities that would increase our portfolio."

The companies expect the acquisition of Grey Goose to close in the next few months following regulatory approvals. Sidney Frank of New Rochelle, New York, will keep importing Jagermeister Herbal Liqueur among other brands, the companies said in a statement.

In 2001, Bacardi teamed with Brown-Forman Corp., the Louisville, Kentucky-based maker of Jack Daniel's and Southern Comfort whiskey, in an unsuccessful offer for Seagram Co.'s liquor business. They lost out to London-based Diageo Plc and France's Pernod Ricard SA, the world's largest and third-largest liquor companies, respectively.

By global sales, UK-based Allied Domecq Plc ranks second, Bacardi fourth and Brown-Forman fifth, according to a report by Todd Duvick, a fixed-income analyst at Banc of America Securities.

Sidney Frank was advised by the investment banking firm Michel Dyens & Co. and legal firm Kaye Scholer LLP. Bacardi's main legal counsel was Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, the companies said in their statement.