India’s United Spirits has appointed investment banks Rothschild, Rabobank and Standard Chartered to run the sale of the Whyte & Mackay whisky brand, according to reports in this morning’s papers.
The move comes after Diageo bought a controlling stake in United Spirits last year; a sale of Whyte & Mackay was offered in November to appease competition concerns.
The Scotch whisky brand could fetch more than £450m, according to reports, with interested bidders said to include rival drinks companies Pernod, Remy Cointreau and Campari, along with private equity groups such as TPG, and South African drinks tycoon Vivian Imerman, the former owner of Whyte & Mackay.
Imerman took control of Whyte & Mackay in 2005 through a buy-out with his former brother-in-law, the property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz. He then sold the 169-year-old distiller two years later to United Spirits for £595m, a deal that reportedly made him £396m.
This time around, with potential bidders having already been identified, the sale is expected to go straight in to the “information memorandum” stage, where detailed confidential and commercial documents are provided to interested parties.
Bidders are also expected to be given the option of making an offer for Scottish Dalmore single malt whisky within their bids for Whyte & Mackay.
A bid including Dalmore, a premium whisky – recognised by its stag’s head logo – could well tip the sale over £450m.
The sale of Whyte & Mackay follows the UK’s competition regulator’s investigation into Diageo’s United Spirits deal after a number of retailers raised concerns over the supply of blended whisky to supermarkets and other retailers.
Diageo’s Bell blended whisky already accounts for 17.4% of the retail market for bottled blended whisky by volume, according to market insights company Nielsen.
Whyte & Mackay’s last available accounts show that the group made a pre-tax profit of £15.4m in the year to March 31 2012, up from £12.4m previously, while turnover reached £229.8m.
