Kishore Chhabria-promoted Allied Blenders and Distillers has not given up the chase to acquire a majority stake in liquor company Tilaknagar Industries, a year into discussions, and despite the obvious resistance by promoter Amit Dahanukar.

Deepak Roy, Vice-Chairman, Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), told BusinessLine that the company was still keen to acquire a majority stake in smaller rival Tilaknagar Industries (TI). “Though we made an offer to acquire a majority stake, we have not come to the stage of a meeting yet. The deal is not concluded due to differences over the price, though we are still in negotiations with Tilaknagar,” said Roy.

Meanwhile, Dahanukar said the company was only looking “for some infusion of funds, and some stake sale. We are not interested in selling outright, and will not divest a majority stake.”

Even as ABD’s Roy insisted that merchant bankers were still in discussions over a stake buy, Dahanukar confirmed that, “initially, though we had given the mandate for fund raising to Ambit Corporate Finance, the elections brought about uncertainty in the market. We then decided to wait post elections, to let it settle down, before making fresh enquiries with private equity investors.”

He reiterated that the company was not speaking “to anyone at the moment” over a stake sale.

To add to the heady mix of discussions between the liquor companies, last week ABD acquired 50 per cent rights to two brands, Mansion House and Savoy Club, from Dutch firm Herman Jansen.

The deal grants ABD the right to manufacture and distribute the brands in India.

The said brands are under dispute, and are made in India by Tilaknagar. Dahanukar said assigning brands to ABD, even while judicial proceedings were pending, was illegal. “Tilaknagar’s rights in the trademark Mansion House and Savoy Club have been upheld by the Bombay High Court. The case is sub judice ,” he said.

Roy said ABD had impleaded itself in the case along with Herman Jansen. As to whether the deal with Jansen would create some resistance to a future stake buy in Tilaknagar, Roy added that the brand (Jansen) was in jeopardy and ABD had acquired it. “We don’t want disputes. We acquired the brand and hope to increase our presence, once the issues are settled.”

Ready for settlement

Dahanukar said he was seeking closure. Keen to settle the brewing dispute over the brandy brands, Dahanukar said he would not mind an out of court settlement with friends.

“The company started as Maharashtra Sugar Mills in 1933. Tilaknagar Industries transitioned to the liquor business only in 1987, when the sugar assets were divested. We have maintained healthy relations with our former sugar mill counterparts, for we require molasses from the sugar mills for our distillery,” he added.

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