Shaw Wallace sells entire stake in United Spirits
30 Jun 2009
Shaw Wallace & Co has sold its entire 10.27 per cent stake in United Spirits Ltd, a part of the Vijay Mallya-owned United Breweries Group, for over Rs900 crore ($187.5 million).
Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd today informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that the company has sold its entire holding of 10,282,553 equity shares of Rs10 each in United Spirits Ltd.
United Spirits, which owned a 31.40 per cent stake in Shaw Wallace at the end of March, will get the money from the sale of shares in the open market, the company said in a statement to the National Stock Exchange.
United Spirits planned to use the money to pay off a part of the $620 million it had borrowed to buy UK-based scotch maker Whyte & Mackay Ltd, Ravi Nedungadi, chief financial officer of UB Group, said.
The company has already repaid around $115 million of the money, and Nedungadi said, "We are on our way to substantially repay our debt."
The company will repay another $180-190 million, or roughly half the debt following the Shaw Wallace transaction.