The Hindu Business Line : UB Group nearing Whyte & Mackay deal

Taking shelter under a confidentiality agreement signed with the UB Group, the Whyte & Mackay Chairman, Mr Vivian Immerman, however, said that the deal could happen towards the end of January. "Whatever Mr Vijay Mallya (UB group Chairman) has said about the deal is 100 per cent true," Mr Immerman told Business Line.

Mr Immerman also confirmed that the bid was for 100 per cent buyout of Whyte & Mackay, including all its brands. Mr Mallya's UB Group had earlier made an unsolicited bid for the Scottish company. Whyte & Mackay's brands include, Jura and Dalmore single malt whiskies, Vladivar Vodka and Glayva liqueur. It has around 9 per cent of the global whisky market, according to market reports.

Mr Immerman along with Iranian industrialist, Mr Robert Tchenguiz are the main investors in the company. The global whisky major recently underwent a major restructuring exercise.

Entire business

Mr Immerman did not say how big the deal was worth. But reports had suggested that UB had made a bid for the entire business for around $473 million while Whyte & Mackay had asked for around $600 million.

A UB Group official had earlier said it was looking for a liquor company from which it could source aged single malt whisky that could be blended with Indian-made whisky. He said the UB Group was looking at business five to 10 years from now.

With the consumers in the US increasingly preferring Scotch to other liquor and China too consuming more Scotch, there was a huge opportunity for the group to source the brew and market it abroad, the official said.

"We want to secure the supply of Scotch," he said. Once there is a constant supply of Scotch, it could be blended here, he said.

As per an earlier plan, UB Group was keen on sourcing fillings (immature whisky) from distilleries in Scotland as they don't have much of a value with the maturisation being carried out in India. This will enable purchasing young Scotch at attractive prices, and mature them in house up to various age profile. Hence, it was necessary to create large storage facility so that fillings can be bought in bulk.

In case UB Group is able to takeover Whyte & Mackay, it could turn out to be one of the largest deals made by an Indian company and also enable the group to move closer to being a major international player.

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