E-Malt.com News article: India: United Breweries delays announcement of fourth-quarter results pending court ruling on its sale of United Spirits

United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL) said it would delay the announcement of its fourth-quarter results, pending a Supreme Court ruling on its sale of United Spirits Ltd. (USL) shares worth at least Rs1,400 crore to Diageo Plc, Livemint reported on May 19.

UBHL, the holding company of Vijay Mallya’s troubled UB Group, said in a statement to BSE that it would publish its fourth-quarter results within a month after the Supreme Court passes judgement on the Diageo stake sale case.

UBHL filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in January against a Karnataka high court order that annulled the sale of USL shares.

The high court, which passed its verdict on 20 December, reversed an order passed by the same court in May when it gave conditional approval to UBHL to sell its shares to Diageo.

The December order came in response to a winding-up petition filed by creditors of UBHL, which, according to the company’s latest annual report, has extended corporate guarantees worth thousands of crores to lenders of troubled group affiliate Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. Proceedings related to the winding-up petition will continue in the high court.

Diageo completed its takeover of USL last July, nearly eight months after the companies announced the deal. UBHL and other promoter companies sold a 14.98% stake in USL for £344.19 million to Diageo. The UK-based liquor giant said last month that it would offer to buy another 26% in USL from public shareholders at a price of Rs3,030 per share. If the open offer is successful Diageo will end up owning nearly 55% of USL.

USL delayed reporting its fourth-quarter results last week citing “unavoidable circumstances.” The company hasn’t given a date for the publication of its results. A UB Group spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.


21 May, 2014