GLASGOW, Scotland, May 16 (UPI) -- A company owned by India's billionaire brewery king, Vijay Mallya, reportedly has purchased Scotland's whiskey distiller Whyte & Mackay for about $1.2 billion.
United Breweries Group, keen to add the Scotch brand to its product line in India's booming economy, announced the all-cash deal acquisition to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the BBC reported Wednesday.
The flamboyant Mallya's Kingfisher beer brand helped build his United Breweries empire, which now has other product lines, as well as a major airline.
"Until today, the only missing link in our portfolio has been Scotch and, due to the shortage and rapidly increasing prices of Scotch whisky, we needed a reliable supply source," Mallya said while in Glasgow.
He said the company's Jura whiskey was his late father's favorite single malt.
Mallya said expansion was more a possibility than any job cuts at the company after the acquisition, the report said.
Whyte and Mackay has been led by Vivian Immerman and his brother-in-law, Robert Tchenguiz, for the past two years, the report said. Their group paid about $416 million for the company in 2001.
Immerman was quoted as saying he was selling the firm as it had become difficult for him to take it to the next level.
