Diageo “close” to United Spirits deal despite Mallya arrest warrant

Diageo is reportedly days away from announcing a deal to acquire a 25% stake in United Spirits, despite an arrest warrant being issued against Vijay Mallya.

Vijay Mallya hopes to sell a large stake in United Spirits to support his Kingfisher airline

Diageo is keen to acquire a large proportion of Mallya’s 28% stake in Indian based drinks group United Spirits, which owns Scotch brands Whyte & Mackay and Jura, as announced by The Spirits Business last month.

According to several news sources, the pair are now close to announcing a deal within the next few days, with Mallya in desperate need to raise cash to support Kingfisher, his Indian airline company that is currently making a loss.

Earlier this week an arrest warrant was issued for Mallya over 103m rupees (£1.2m) in bounced cheques made from Kingfisher to Hyderabad International Airport.

In a statement to AFP, a spokesperson for airport operator GHIAL, said: “The cases were listed today (12 October) for the airline to appear in the court. Since they failed to appear before the magistrate, the court has ordered issuance of NBW (non-bailable warrants) against Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), Vijay Mallya and four other KFA officials.”

Vijay Mallya also owns Formula One team Force India, as well as the Royal Challengers Bangalore, an Indian Premier League cricket team.

Diageo has refused to comment further on the deal since its statement on 25 September announcing talks between the two companies.