Mallya seals Scotch deal, pours himself a stiff one

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.

Source : HT