UNITED SPIRITS ACQUIRES

  PREMIUM SCOTCH DISTILLERS WHYTE & MACKAY FOR £595m

 

 

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

 

United Spirits 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.  United Spirits recorded sales of 66 million cases for the year ended on March 31, 2007.  With this acquisition, United Spirits 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 United Spirits 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 United Spirits 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 United Spirits Limited 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”. 

 

Vivian Imerman stated, “With The UB Group’s ability to sell and market brands, Whyte & Mackay will be taken to a new level again.  This is now a great company and is going to a great home.  The annual operating income of Whyte & Mackay is now approximately £50 million and I expect it to grow at the rate of 20% plus, per annum, for the foreseeable future while the revenue line has grown 30% in current year.  Vijay is a world-class businessman with honour, integrity, flair and a great instinct for business.  I look forward to working together with him to further build a premium international spirits business.”