Vijay Mallya-controlled Mcdowell & Company Ltd has acquired Bouvet Ladubay SAS, the wine subsidiary of French champagne major Taittinger for over Rs 86 crore (14.75 million euros).
The acquisition was made by the company's Mauritius-based wholly owned subsidiary, Asian Opportunities and Investments Ltd and was funded from proceeds of the GDR issue and through internal accruals. Necessary agreements had been signed earlier for the conclusion of the transaction.
Following this buyout, Bouvet Ladubay and its wholly owned subsidiary, Chapin Landais have become wholly owned subsidiaries of Asian Opportunities and that of the company, Mcdowell & Company today informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Earlier, the UB Group had shelved plans to buy French champagne house Taittinger for Rs 3,000 crore after US private equity firm Starwood Capital, which bought the champagne major last year from its French promoters, sold it to Credit Agricole backed by the Taittinger family.
However, it decided to sell the wine subsidiary separately.
Mcdowell said this buyout would facilitate it to introduce high quality wines to the emerging wine connoisseur in India and enable it to take advantage of established distribution in Europe and US to push other products from its portfolio in the Western markets.
Last year, UB Group had acquired Shaw Wallace for about Rs 1,631 crore (354 million dollars), which made the Indian liquor major the world's second-largest spirits group.
{{/usCountry}}Last year, UB Group had acquired Shaw Wallace for about Rs 1,631 crore (354 million dollars), which made the Indian liquor major the world's second-largest spirits group.
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