The Hindu Business Line : UB Group not to outbid competitor for Taittinger

The UB Group has walked out of its bid for Champagne Taittinger claiming that it was not interested in outbidding one of its competitor's raised offer for the business.

"It does not make business sense to offer more for Taittinger," an official with UB said. The Group Chairman, Dr Vijay Mallya, had earlier told Business Line that his group would not be interested in increasing the offer price for Champagne Taittinger.

This is the second time in less than six months when UB has walked out after bidding for a company claiming that the higher valuation for the ventures were not justified. In January this year, UB decided to drop plans to buy Sahara Airlines after the airline asked for more money. The deal was eventually won by Jet Airways for around Rs 2,300 crore.

Sources said French company Credit Agricole du Nord Est which funds winemakers in France, raised its bid for Taittinger last weekend outbidding UB's reported offer of around Rs 3,000 crore. "The new bid was between 15 per cent and 20 per cent higher than ours. We felt that it was not worth it to offer more for the sake of an acquisition," an official said.

Dr Mallya's bid ran into controversy after local groups started campaigning against the Indian company. While Dr Mallya claimed that the takeover of Taittinger will not harm the interests of the French company, he found increasing resistance from the local people. The French Government has kept away from commenting on the issue as Dr Mallya's airline, Kingfisher Airlines has placed orders worth over $2 billion with Toulouse-based Airbus and ATR for buying planes including four A380s which cost $230 million each.

More Stories on : Breweries | Mergers & Acquisitions

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Monsoon pauses, could revive to `shut out' briefly

States shower incentives for attracting investments

M&M clocks 110 pc growth in Q4 net

UB Group not to outbid competitor for Taittinger

Snuffing out smoking with pictorial health warnings

Fundamentals favour upside for metals

UTI AMC to launch $200-300-m overseas infrastructure fund

FMC tells bourses to set up investor protection fund