Sweden's parliament today gave its blessing to a government plan to sell Absolut vodka maker Vin & Sprit and two other state-owned firms as part of a multibillion-dollar privatisation.
The centre-right administration had already won permission to shed stakes in telecoms firm TeliaSonera, bank Nordea and bourse operator OMX.
Sweden's largest-ever privatisation push is expected to raise at least 150 billion Swedish crowns ($21.67 billion) over three years to pay down debt.
Vin & Sprit, which analysts see fetching $5-$6 billion, has so far been the star of the sales catalogue, drawing interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
Drinks giants Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Britain's Diageo and US-based Fortune Brands have all said they would look at the Swedish company.
Private equity firms are also eyeing the 90-year-old firm which produces Absolut, one of Sweden's most famous brands and the world's second-biggest-selling vodka after Diageo's Smirnoff.