United Spirits buys Whyte & Mackay for £595m

United Spirits, a division of Indian drinks business UB Group, has bought Scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay (W&M) for £595m.

W&M owns brands such as Isle of Jura, Dalmore and Glayva, as well as Whyte & Mackay blended whisky.

W&M's Invergordon Distillery, near Inverness, has the capacity to produce 40m litres of alcohol a year. United Spirits said this will provide the group "with a perennial source of Scotch Whisky to meet its global requirements in the future".

Whyte & Mackay also owns four malt whisky distilleries in Scotland and a state of the art bottling facility in Grangemouth with a capacity of producing 12 million cases per annum.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of United Spirits, said: "We have a large and growing business in India and have made recent forays into Russia and China. We have created some of the world's largest brands of drinks.

"Until today, the only missing link in our portfolio has been scotch and due to the shortages and rapidly increasing prices of Scotch whisky, we needed a reliable supply source to secure our future considering that we use scotch in our Indian blends.

"The potential for premium Scotch whisky in India is enormous and, with the acquisition of Whyte & Mackay, we now have a strong portfolio of internationally recognized brands that we will immediately introduce into the Indian market and use our strong distribution muscle fully to our advantage.

"In addition we now have access to international distribution and can look forward to exporting our brands from India."