The Hindu Business Line : UB Group to buy Taittinger arm for $15 m

"In the next few weeks we will seal the deal," the group Chairman, Dr Vijay Mallya, told newspersons on Friday. He said the acquisition would enable United Breweries to have access to high quality premium wine, which it will be able to sell in the Indian market.

Dr Mallya also said he does not plan to take his airline Kingfisher Airline to the IPO soon. "Shareholder value is far more important. This is not the appropriate time to go for an IPO," Dr Mallya said. He said the airline has the highest capitalisation of Rs 372 crore among the domestic airlines.

Airbus delivery delays

He said the airline will not be affected because of the delay in the delivery of A380s because the airline will start receiving the aircraft only by 2010. "There will be delays in deliveries slated for 2007 and 2008. Deliveries for us will begin only by 2010," he said. Kingfisher has ordered for five each of A380s, A350s and long haul A330s. The airline will add 10 more aircraft by the end of this year, six in 2007 and eight in 2008.

It also plans to have another 16 more ATR aircraft in 2007-08.

Dr Mallya said his company withdrew from bidding for Champagne Taittinger because it did not want to dilute the shareholders' value. UB withdrew from the bid after the eventual winner Credit Agricole du Nord Est topped its bid.

He said if the group had won the bid, it would have still remained as a French asset. "I was not prepared to go into a bidding war because that would have diluted the shareholder value for United Breweries," he said. He said as Champagne can be produced only in France, "I can understand if the French are possessive about it."

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