| Whyte & Mackay has been acquired by Vijay Mallya's UB Group for a final price of £595 million. Mallya will become the distiller's new chairman and chief executive, while current head Vivian Imerman will become strategic advisor.
"Until today, the only missing link in our portfolio has been Scotch, and due to the shortages and rapidly increasing prices of Scotch whisky, we needed a reliable supply source to secure our future considering that we use Scotch in our Indian blend," said Vijay Mallya after the deal was announced on Wenesday.
He went on to say, "Potential for premium Scotch whisky is enormous, and with the acquisition of Whyte & Mackay we now have a strong portfolio of internationally recognised brands that we will immediately introduce into the Indian market and use our strong distribution muscle fully to our advantage.
"In addition, we now have access to international distribution and can look forward to exporting our brands from India ."
Imerman took full control of Whyte & Mackay in early 2005 after purchasing German Bank WestLB's 30% share. The distiller recorded sales of nine million cases in the last year, with United Spirits sales reaching 66 million cases.
The earlier bid of Mallya was £540 million before due diligence and was agreed upon by the two parties in March.
Whyte and Mackay has popular brands such as Whyte and Mackay Scotch Whiskey, Highland Malt, Isle of Juara Malt Whiskey, Glayva Liqueur and Dalmore Single Highland Malt. It has four different producing units in Scotland .
About half the cost of the Whyte & Mackay deal, seen expensive by some analysts, will be to pay for the target's inventory of vintage scotch.
The vintage brands' current inventory has been valued at £300 million.
United Spirits has been in talks with the W & M management for some months now as it was keen to have access to Whyte & Mackay scotch brands, which are currently sold in several premium markets in the world.
Last year, the United Spirits was formed by merging McDowell, Shaw Wallace & Co., Herbertsons Ltd and other spirits companies of the UB Group into a single entity. The company owns 145 brands, with 69 factories across India .
Mallya had rolled into Glasgow earlier this week with a phalanx of aides to announce that UB Group has completed year-long negotiations to buy the Whyte & Mackay group.
He appeared at a news conference at one of the city's upmarket hotels, with flowing locks and dressed in a sharp suit of immaculately tailored material. His rings and other items of expensive gold jewellery twinkled in the lights set up by several television crews.
The flamboyant bllionaire Mallya, known as India 's Sir Rihard Branson was in total command of his brief, speaking without notes for more than 30 minutes. He deftly answered questions from the British, Indian and US media, including a query from a Wall Street Journal reporter on the arcane workings of the World Trade Organisation.
Source: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com
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