Officer’s Choice: Mallya, Chhabria strike deal to end battle
09 Oct 2012
After years of acrimony, Vijay Mallya's United Spirits (USL) and Kishore Chhabria's Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD) have finally agreed to settle out of court their years-old dispute over the ownership of the 'Officer's Choice' brand of whiskey, reportedly the largest selling whiskey in the world.
Under the agreement, ABD – which currently owns and markets the 'OC' brand – will pay USL Rs8 crore, and USL will in turn withdraw all court cases claiming a right over the brand.
"Now that all disputes are over, ABD and Officer's Choice are poised for growth," Kishore Chhabria, chairman of ABD, said in a statement from Bangalore.
The dispute has its origins in 2001 when Kishore Chhabria and his elder brother Manu smoked the peace pipe and withdrew all the 140 legal cases against each other.
However, senior Chhabria, for reasons not clear, did not withdraw the one case claiming ownership of the OC brand.
Mallya's contention is that he is the rightful owner of the Officer's Choice brand and not Chhabria. The dispute resurfaced nearly seven years ago after Mallya acquired Shaw Wallace from Manu Chhabria in 2005. During that transaction, Kishore Chhabria had laid claim to OC, which Mallya opposed. The case thus resurfaced in the Kolkata High Court.
The cash settlement may be too small to help Mallya's struggling Kingfisher Airlines, which has not paid staff salaries for some six months. But it could pave the way for USL to move ahead on striking a deal with Diageo, which is looking at buying a stake in Mallya's liquor company.