FIPB to mull United Breweries' proposal on July 24

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will again consider a proposal of Vijay Mallya-promoted United Breweries Holdings (UBHL) to raise Rs 708 crore by issuing convertible equity warrants in its meeting to be held on July 24.

According to a finance ministry circular, the FIPB in its last meeting held on July 10 had deferred a decision on the proposal.

The FIPB had noted that the Department of Revenue (DoR) has not supported the proposal on the ground that the money sought to be raised is "primarily a loan from Nexgen Capital and Standard Chartered Bank routed through FirStart Inc as investment".

IT had also pointed that DoR has not supported the proposal because "Vijay Mallay's net worth is less than the amount for which he has given guarantee and the gap is not explained".

UBHL had approached the FIPB for making downstream investments in Kingfisher Airlines and a host of other subsidiaries and associate companies.