up for sale?

[Rob Allanson]

Rumours are spreading through the whisky world that Whyte & Mackay, the Scotch whisky group, is to be sold off by its parent group, Bangalore-based United Spirits.
Indian business giant Dr Vijay Mallya incorportated the distillery company into his empire, paying £595m for the distiller in May 2007.
It is understood that Mallya's global business empire, which also includes the Kingfisher airline and beer brand, became over-stretched as a result of a string of dealing at the height of the credit markets.
Several companies are believed to be eyeing up the spoils of any possible sell out.
A spokesperson for Whyte and Mackay scotched the rumours and said: "We do not comment on rumours. This remains as speculation and we are not aware of anything different."
With no official word coming from the Indian firm, it is anticipated that the speculation will continue.
- The rumour mill is also in full effect surrounding the status of whisky producer Burn Stewart.
Reports in a weekend's papers suggest that the company, which owns Tobermory and Bunnahabhain, is to be sold off by parent company CL Financial.
However a spokeswoman for the company told Whisky Magazine this was "purely speculation."

[malthead]

If this were to happen it would be a major shake up for the industry. I would suspect that not many people would be up for taking the whole companies. A fit that i think might work would be for William Grant's to buy Bunnahabhain - imagine what a company like William Grants could do with the brand.

Just a thought but you never know?

http://www.malthead.blogspot.com