Pernod Ricard SA, a French drinks company,...

Pernod Ricard SA, a French drinks company, said it made a friendly takeover offer worth the equivalent of $412 million for Irish Distillers Group PLC to counter a hostile bid by the British liquor group Grand Metropolitan PLC. An Irish Distillers spokeswoman said Pernod claims to have received assurances from 51.8% of the Irish whiskey maker’s shareholders to sell their shares to Pernod. Grand Metropolitan on Sunday sweetened its bid to $480 million from $366 million in anticipation of Pernod’s offer.