Global drinks leader Diageo is said to have evinced interest in picking up a minority stake in Vijay Mallya’s liquor flagship United Spirits (USL). Sources said talks exploring the possibility of Diageo buying around 10-13% in the Indian spirits behemoth, the world’s third-largest by volume, for $500-600 million have taken place.
Sources said Diageo was interested in buying into USL with the latter’s enterprise valuation pegged at over $5 billion. It is believed that the domestic giant may be open to placing a small stake with Diageo without ceding management control. This could see Diageo entering as a financial investor, for now, at least. In many ways, observers say, the move is reminiscent of Vodafone’s buy into Airtel some years back.
Read more in The Economic Times article.
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