Shaw Wallace shareholders approve merger with United Spirits

Mumbai: Shareholders of Shaw Wallace and Company Limited today approved the scheme of amalgamation of the company with United Spirits Limited at a court convened meeting in Kolkata.

While 39 million votes were in favour of the resolution putting out the 123-year-old SWC legacy, 303 votes were against the merger scheme. The scheme would be effective from the appointed date of 1 April 2007.

Under the terms of the merger scheme, the business of Shaw Wallace would be transferred to United Spirits, the holding company of Vijay Mallya's UB group and SWC will cease to exist.

Subrata K Basu, a minority shareholder, had petitioned the Calcutta high court to seek intervention and appointment of a receiver in order to re-evaluate the brands owned by SWC.

According to Basu, the Rs1,300 crore transfer value had grossly undervalued the company's brands. He had sought fresh valuation before United Spirits is allowed to give effect to resolutions passed in an extraordinary SWC meeting on 25 April 2008.

He had also contested the exchange ratio of seven United Spirits shares for 17 SWC shares.

Founded by David Shaw and C Wallace, the company started operations in 1886 as a managing agency and was subsequently acquired by Manohar Rajaram Chhabria, the late Dubai-based non-resident Indian, in 1987 after a bruising hostile battle with S P Acharia, the then chairman of SWC.

In 2005, after the demise of Chhabria, SWC was acquired by Vijay Mallya for Rs1,300 crore.