India: United Spirits claims recovery of Rs1,800 crore from United Breweries

In an arbitration case fought between Diageo PLC owned United Spirits (USL) and United Breweries Holdings (UBHL), the former had claimed a recovery of around Rs 1,800 crore including interest from Vijay Mallya’s holding company after it defaulted between 2010 and 2013, two people with direct knowledge of the development said.

The ongoing arbitration in Bengaluru, which was to be concluded in few months, has now been extended by six months. The two companies went for arbitration as loan agreement said a default of the loan can be settled through an arbitration. USL has loaned around Rs 1,350 crore to various companies of Mallya which was primarily used to fund the defunct Kingfisher Airline.

USL, which sells Diageo’s brands such as Black Dog and Smirnoff in India, had loaned to various UB group companies and all these loans had been consolidated under UB Holdings which has been acknowledged by the holding company.

Mallya is the chairman and chief executive of UBHL.

USL declined to comment, while Mallya, the chairman and chief executive of UBHL, did not respond to a mailed questionnaire.