Pharma tycoon Adar Poonawalla has emerged as a potential suitor for the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru, sparking fresh speculation around a possible change in ownership of one of the league's most high-profile teams.
Diageo's India arm will begin a strategic review of its investment in a unit which owns the IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the spirits maker said on Wednesday.
Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group has completed the acquisition of a majority 67 percent stake in Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans.
Sebi on Friday barred fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya from the securities markets and restrained him from associating with any listed firm for three years in the matter of routing of funds to the Indian securities market using overseas bank accounts with UBS AG. The Indian government has been attempting to extradite Mallya from the United Kingdom to face fraud charges related to his now-defunct company Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya has been living in the United Kingdom since March 2016.
'Our approach has been to work with consumers and help them drink better, not more.'
Brewing billionaire Vijay Mallya's woes seem to be compounding. His flagship spirits arm, United Spirits Ltd (USL), is starting to mirror Kingfisher Airlines.
The companies have postponed their open offer, too.
The question now is, legal experts say, whether the new norms would come into effect prospectively or retrospectively.
As per the latest shareholding pattern data of the company, foreign institutional investors held 45.81 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group firm United Spirits Ltd as on December 31.
The intrigue surrounding how the Vijay Mallya-led UB Group will address the spiralling debt problem of its companies took a fresh turn on Tuesday, with one senior official saying there was a possibility of group firm United Spirits Ltd totally selling out its flagship subsidiary Whyte and Mackay (W&M), the scotch major based in Scotland.
Deal will help the Diageo to ramp up its presence in the global whiskey market and Vijay Mallya to repay debts of its group company Kingfisher Airlines.
He sold 8.84% stake for Rs 55 crore based on average stock price in September quarter.
There is no way out for Mallya's debt problems unless he sells some of his stake, says an analyst.
Sources say Diageo is pushing for a management control of United Spirits; and this has led Mallya to rethink on the offer.
On November 9, 2012 Diageo had announced buying a 53.4 per cent stake in USL for Rs 11,166.5 crore (Rs 111.66 billion) in a multi-structured deal.
The next step will be the 10 per cent preferential allotment, which the UB Group promoters will be making in favour of Diageo.
Nearly six months after he put the stake sale process of Whyte & Mackay on the fast track to find a solution to United Spirits' high leverage, UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya is understood to be nearing a deal to offload 49 per cent stake in the flagship subsidiary.
Mallya had bought the pedigree scotch major, based in Scotland, for $1.2 billion in 2007.
For the first nine months of the current financial year, net sales rose by close to 37 per cent to Rs 1,470 crore (Rs 14.7 billion( over the previous corresponding period, while operating profit increased by another 37 per cent to Rs 322 crore (Rs 3.22 billion).
As part of the deal for purchase of 53.4 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group's United Spirits Ltd, Diageo has made a Rs 5,441 crore open offer for purchase of 26 per cent stake in the company from non-promoter shareholders.
Market regulator Sebi has sought additional details from global liquor giant Diageo with regard to its Rs 5,441 crore (Rs 54.41 billion) open offer for acquiring 26 per cent stake in UB Group firm United Spirits Ltd.
The offer price remains the same at Rs 1,440 per share.
Rising income has allowed consumers to upgrade not just from country liquor to Indian-made foreign liquor, but also to better brands.
United Spirits Ltd (USL), flagship spirits company of the UB Group, has finally decided on foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) to raise as much as $225 million (Rs 1,190 crore). The plan is to raise up to $175 million, plus an over-allotment option of $50 million.
Last month, India's AlcoBev industry pulled off a successful two-day showcase exhibition at the Hotel Renaissance in Powai. We got experts to show readers how they can create some mind-boggling cocktail concoctions, so watch and learn.
According to the The Times, the move is a part of a drive to cut UB Group's $4 billion (2.5 billion pounds) debt.
Abay Kewadkar, director, Four Seasons Wines, says there is room for expansion of the facility based on initial consumer feedback to the initiative.
Vijay Mallya-promoted United Spirits Ltd has told its investors that at its current growth rate of 12 per cent annually, it will become the world's number one spirits company this fiscal.
UK-based Diageo paid Rs 3,030 for a share of United Spirits Ltd, more than double of Rs 1,440 it offered in the previous bid last year.
United Spirits Ltd, owned by Vijay Mallya-controlled UB Group, is set to become the world's second-largest spirits firm by volumes, dislodging Paris-headquartered Pernod Ricard.
Ranibai Rajaram Chhabria, mother of late Manohar Rajaram Chhabria, has challenged the merger of Shaw Wallace with the UB Group saying she was entitled to a fifth of her deceased son's estate.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is mulling to divest around 49 per cent stake in United Spirits Ltd's UK-based wholly-owned subsidiary Whyte & Mackay (W&M), which it acquired for 595 million pounds in May 2007.
He has also said that the overall mood of the Indian consumer remains subdued
A forensic audit has found possible 'irregularities and mismanagement' in advances and investments made by Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers to his other group companies.
CSD was created to provide easy access to quality products of daily use, at prices less than market rates to the soldiers, ex-servicemen and their families
United Spirits Ltd will launch five brands in China as part of its entry into the communist country's market.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is believed to have acquired Bouvet-Ladubay, the wine subsidiary of French champagne major Taittinger for $15 million.
The company said it will appoint a new Chairman at the next Board meeting.
The firm has advised United Spirits Ltd's shareholders to vote against the proposal to re-appoint Mallya as director on the board.
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