Mallya seals Scotch deal, pours himself a stiff one Vijay Dutt London, February 20
IT MAY not be as expensive an acquisition as Lakshmi Mittal's of Arcelor or Ratan Tata's of Corus. But the Vijay Mallya-owned UB Group's takeover of the Glasgow-based Whyte & Mackay, manufacturers of Scotch whisky, is an equally important – and dramatic – achievement.
Sources close to Mallya said the deal had been sealed for £550 million (Rs 4,675 crore), and that the formalities would be completed within a fortnight. Whyte & Mackay's chairman, Vivian Immerman, confirmed that Mallya had spent the last three days in Scotland. "You can't miss his jet. I can't deny it," he declared, adding that the due diligence process was on.
With this acquisition, the UB Group will add W&M Scotch whisky, Vladivar vodka and Jura single-malt whisky to its well-known Indian brands of Kingfisher lager, Bagpiper and McDowell's No.1 whiskies. W&M holds a significant 9 per cent share of the global Scotch whisky market, and is a household name in the United Kingdom.
It is a triumph for Mallya after the long and fractious battle he has waged with the UK's Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), which blocked his efforts to sell India-made whisky – which would have been much cheaper than their brands – in Europe. The SWA claimed Indian whiskies were not whiskies at all, since they were distilled from molasses and not from malt.
Mallya famously responded with a press conference in London last year where he accused the SWA of 'commercial imperialism'. "India is no longer a British colony," he thundered. In turn he lobbied with the Indian government against the SWA's efforts to get the high tariff on imported Scotch whisky in India lowered. vdutt at aol.com
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