NEWS
DUTCH BREWER HEINEKEN ACQUIRED CONTROLLING STAKE IN INDIA’S BIGGEST BREWER UBL
By Susan Lewis
29-6-2021
Credit: Steela de Smit/Unsplash
Heineken NV, the world's second largest beer maker, has taken control of India's largest brewer United Breweries Limited (UBL), cementing its position in the Indian beer market which has high potential to grow.
The Dutch brewer announced last week that it had bought 39.6 million shares in UBL to push its holding to 61.5 percent from 46.5 percent before.
Based on last Tuesday's close at Rs 1,466, the acquisition would be worth Rs 5,810 crore (USD781.3 million).
UBL is the maker of India's top-selling Kingfisher lager and was owned by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, whom India wants to extradite from Britain over USD1.4 billion of loans taken out from Indian banks which authorities argue he had no intention of repaying.
The banks took possession of the stake and India's Competition Commission approved Heineken's proposed acquisition of additional equity last Monday.
Heineken has steadily been building its stake in UBL since taking an initial 37.5 percenet through its 2008 acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle.
The extradition of Mallya has been ordered by the Westminster Magistrates Court and confirmed by the UK High Court.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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