The new Diageo management had asked Vijay Mallya to step down.
The Deccan brand, once synonymous with lost cost flying in India, will cease to exist after its merger with the Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines, which will takeoff for international destinations by August. "Deccan will cease to exist because after the merger there will be only one company and that will be Kingfisher Airlines," UB Group chief and Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya told reporters in Baramati.
"They have beer business in India, which has a conflict of interest as Kingfisher is the largest beer brand in the country. I am ready to buy back," Mallya said in Baramati while opening United Spirits' Baramati Four Seasons winery. Earlier in January, a consortium of Carlsberg and Heineken had acquired S&N for 7.5 billion pounds. S&N had 37.5 per cent stake in the UB Group. As per the takeover agreement, Heineken was supposed to continue to hold S&N's business in the UK.
UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya made international headlines last Thursday when he bought Mahatma Gandhi's memorabilia for a whopping $1.8 million from an auction in New York. Mallya, who has announced that he plans to hand over the items to the Indian government, might have a long wait ahead of him. The US Justice Department has decided to probe the legality of the sale of the Gandhi memorabilia.
India may not charge import duty on personal artefacts of Mahatma Gandhi, which were bought by liquor baron Vijay Mallya in an auction at New York. Moreover, the country is also going to relax import restriction on all items of historical significance of Indian origin.A pair of steel-rimmed spectacles and sandals, a Zenith pocket watch, an eating bowl and a plate went under the hammer in New York and the UB Group chairman successfully bid for them for $1.8 million.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has dropped plans to contest the coming Rajya Sabha elections from Maharastra and seek re-election only from Karnataka. Admitting that he had talks with Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackery on possibilities of his contesting from Maharashtra, the head of the Kingfisher Airlines said he did not get a good response as 'Sena is not fully in favour of non-Maharastrians'.
The company has a wide-ranging client base spanning across consumer durables to retail groups like ITC, UB Group and WalMart. It is also in the process of designing various white goods for its clients in the consumer durable industry.
The first signs of the move will be evident when both the airlines announce their summer schedules in March after receiving the approval of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Deccan is likely to bring down and withdraw frequencies between Mumbai-Delhi in the schedule.
The government recently allowed the foreign carriers to have a 74 per cent stake in Indian cargo carriers. A total of 49 per cent FDI was earlier allowed in the cargo sector, but no investment by a foreign airline was permitted.
Merged entity to be named Kingfisher Airlines.
UB Group's Four Seasons Wines announced on Friday that it would offer equity participation to its local partners and farmers for its new project at the Four Seasons Winery in Baramati
Deccan Aviation Ltd, in which Vijay Mallya's UB group has picked up 46 per cent stake, may hive off its aviation chartering business into a separate entity.
To help UB raise above half the buyout cost of Rs 4,620 cr.
After strong statements to the contrary, UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya on Tuesday said that he was considering the merger of Kingfisher Airlines with budget carrier Simplifly Deccan (earlier Air Deccan), in which the former bought a 26 per cent stake in June. Mallya said Kingfisher had asked consulting firm Accenture to study the integration of the two airlines, including the possibility of a merger.
USL is already contesting a Karnataka High Court order.
STAR India, a wholly owned subsidiary of STAR Hong Kong, is exploring the possibilities of getting into the print media business in India. Last week, top STAR executives including STAR Hong Kong CEO Paul Aiello, STAR India CEO Uday Shankar and COO Jagdish Kumar were in Bangalore for meetings with possible joint venture partners for the print foray. The company is said to be in talks with Vijay Mallya's UB Group.
Mallya failed to repay loans worth Rs 7,200 cr, did not pay salaries, did not deposit PF, and did not pay income tax. It is still a mystery why banks continued to pour money into the airline when it was on life support
The court imposed Rs 10 lakh as costs on Mallya in the case.
Kingfisher Airlines, owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has run up a debt of Rs 4,000 crore. The airline, which is merging with Deccan Aviation, is understood to have a top line of around Rs 3,000 crore and is expected to make losses of Rs 900 crore on a yearly basis. This is in addition to the losses of around Rs 650 crore suffered by Deccan Aviation.
Mallya recently acquired 26 percent stake in the country's largest budget airline, Air Deccan.
W&M's single malts and vodka brand could help UB improve its position at the premium end of the Indian spirits market
He manages to get back a majority of pledged shares.
Earlier this year, Mallya's UB Group had acquired 26 per cent stake in low-cost carrier Deccan Aviation for Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion). The Group has now scaled up its stake in the budget airline to 46 per cent by buying shares in an open offer.
The Indian cable and satellite universe is already packed and in the coming months it will only get further crowded. Over the next 12 months, another 100 channels will be added to the existing 230 and according to industry estimates, by 2009 a staggering 700 channels could be beamed into Indian homes.
Continuing with his acquisition juggernaut on foreign shores, liquor baron Vijay Mallya of United Breweries Group has now set his sights on New Zealand based company Independent Liquor Ltd.
After being forced to resign as chairman of MCF, Mallya is now keen on increasing his stake in the company
Earlier this year, Kingfisher Airlines had acquired 26 per cent stake in low-cost carrier Deccan Aviation for Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion). The company also made an open offer for another 20 per cent stake in Deccan Aviation. The open offer was oversubscribed. It received bids for 35 million equity shares against the issue size of 27 million shares.
East Bengal are likely play an exhibiton match against top English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur nine days before their arch rivals Mohun Bagan take on the German club Bayern Munich at Salt Lake stadium on May 27.
A star-studded black tie event hosted by Parmeshwar Godrej in honour of newlyweds Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar saw the who's who of the city's party circuit.
With this, Heineken's stake has risen from 39% to 42.2%.
UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya, who inherited an empire of diverse businesses at age 27, is now trying hard to show that he can be a pragmatic king of bad times, too.That explains Mallya's move to hawk a part of his family silver at a time when the combined debt of his six listed companies has touched a whopping Rs 14,231 crore, as on December 2008. The debt is now more than the group's market cap.
Encouraged by the buzz created among the consumers by the Black Dog 12-year-old deluxe, the company has now decided to launch the 8-year-old centenary variant of the brand. Despite a tagline reading "Proudly old-fashioned since 1883", it has tried to make a connection with the younger lot. With the existing restrictions on liquor advertising, USL has promoted the brand by having strong on-trade presence through exclusive tie-ups with retailers.
Even as 59 Rajya Sabha seats will be up for re-election in April, at least two industrialists are likely to get re-elected for another six years -- Vijay Mallya and Rajkumar Dhoot.
The Kingfisher-Air Deccan group will be the largest domestic airline with a fleet of 71 aircraft, including 41 Airbuses and 30 ATRs.
Although industry analysts are welcoming Kingfisher Airlines' stake acquisition in Air Deccan as the right move towards consolidation
Wednesday's acquisition of Whyte & Mackay for $1.18 billion puts Mallya in the hallowed bracket.
The calender aims to boost fashion and tourism in India.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances