Bacardi family votes for change

The secretive Bacardi drinks company has taken the first tentative step towards floating the business on the stock market.

At a meeting at the firm's Bermuda headquarters, more than two-thirds of shareholders voted in favour of issuing more shares.

They agreed to create two classes of common stock.

One, with 10 votes per share, would be available only to family members.

The other, with one vote per share, would be sold publicly.

This is the first time that the Bacardi family has agreed to loosen its grip on the company set up in Cuba 141 years ago.

But another vote will have to be held before a flotation can go ahead.

Raising cash

The company's products include Bacardi rum, Bacardi Breezers, Martini, Dewar's whisky and Bombay Sapphire gin.

There are 600 shareholders - all but about a dozen are family members.

The chairman, Ruben Rodriguez, and chief executive, Javier Ferran, are not related to the Bacardis.

They are keen for the company to be able to raise money through the stock market so that it can afford to compete with drinks rivals Diageo and Allied Domecq.

In the past, the company has had enough funds of its own to buy other businesses and brands, but it is now at the point where it needs to raise more cash to keep expanding.