United Spirits - Acquires Whyte & Mackay

United Spirits Acquires Premium Scotch Distillers Whyte & Mackay For £595m

United Spirits Ltd on May 16, 2007 has announced that it has acquired a hundred percent of Whyte & Mackay for £595m.

Whyte & Mackay is a leading distiller of Scotch Whisky, owning brands including The Dalmore, Isle of Jura, Glayva, Fettercairn, Viadivar vodka and the eponymous Whyte & Mackay blended Scotch. The Company also owns several other Scotch Whisky brands such as Mackinlays, John Barr, Cluny and Clayrnore amongst a host of others.

Whyte & Mackay is a key strategic acquisition for The UB Group and its Chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya. In the last four years, Whyte & Mackay has been transformed by a team led by Vivian Imerman. The Company has delivered strong revenue and profit growth as a result of internationalizing its premium brands and maximizing the returns from its attractive bulk whisky assets.

The Company sees significant revenue growth opportunities from its acquisition of Whyte & Mackay. In particular, The UB Group will provide access to India and other large emerging markets, allowing an acceleration of Whyte & Mackay’s growth plans.

Whyte & Mackay recorded sales of 9 million case and case equivalents in the last 12 months. The Company recorded sales of 66 million cases for the year ended on March 31, 2007. With this acquisition, the Company will have consolidated sales of 75 million cases per annum. At a time when global demand for Scotch Whisky is showing strong growth and prices are increasing rapidly, Whyte & Mackay's bulk scotch inventories of 115 million litres are not only very valuable but allow the Company the opportunity to meet their own growing requirements for their brands in India.

The Invergordon Distillery, near Inverness, is one of the largest Scotch Whisky distilleries with a capacity of producing 40 million litres of alcohol per annum. This production resource will provide the Company with a perennial source of Scotch Whisky to meet its global requirements in the future. In addition, Invergordon will remain a key strategic provider of bulk Scotch Whisky to industry majors.

Whyte & Mackay also owns four malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and a state of the art bottling facility in Grangemouth with a capacity of producing 12 million cases per annum. Imerman was appointed CEO at the start of 2003, and took majority control of Whyte & Mackay in 2005. At that time, Imerman set out a vision to turn Whyte & Mackay into an international premium spirits business. He and his management team have since delivered on all of the milestones that were set at the time, they have refinanced the business, reorganized the structure, eliminated costs and complexities, taken control of UK sales and distribution established key international distribution, re-branded the product line, and led the increases in bulk and own-label whisky prices by buying up excess stock in the market.

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the Company said "We have a large and growing business in India and have made recent forays into Russia and China. United Spirits have created some of the world's largest brands of drinks. Until today, the only missing link in our portfolio has been Scotch and due to the shortages and rapidly increasing prices of Scotch Whisky, we needed a reliable supply source to secure our future considering that we use scotch in our Indian blends. The potential for premium Scotch Whisky in India is enormous and, with the acquisition of Whyte & Mackay we now have a strong portfolio of internationally recognized brands that we will immediately introduce into the Indian market and use our strong distribution muscle fully to our advantage. In addition we now have access to international distribution and can look forward to exporting our brands from India".

Dr. Mallya added "Given the very valuable Scotch Whisky inventories and production assets, a significant part of the acquisition. debt is in the target with no recourse to United Spirits. I have repeatedly stated that we will not over pay in any acquisition and I am satisfied that the price agreed is attractive. Further, the combined profits of United Spirits and Whyte & Mackay are expected to be earnings accretive from the first completed year of operations after accounting for the cost of funds applied to the acquisition."

Vivian Imerman will remain with the Whyte & Mackay group as a Strategic Advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive, Dr. Vijay Mallya.

Acquisition finance for the transaction to the Company was arranged and provided by ICICI Bank and Citibank. The Company was advised by UBS, ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered. Whyte & Mackay was advised by Citigroup.

Source : Bombay Stock Exchange