Siddharth Mallya quits as director of father Vijay Mallya's UBHL

Move touted as attempt to shield family from personal attacks in the wake of Vijay Mallya loan default cases

United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd on Friday said Siddharth V Mallya, son of its majority shareholder Vijay Mallya, has quit the company as a non-executive independent director of the company.

UBHL informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in a notification that Mallya exited the firm on March 31.

As Vijay Mallya is trying to switch a deal under scrutiny over unpaid loans taken to run now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, he is also trying to shield his family from personal attacks.

"My son Sid @sidmallya does not deserve all this abuse as he had nothing to do with my business. Slam me if you must but not a young man," Vijay Mallya tweeted two days ago.

The junior Mallya, who is pursuing a drama course in the UK and acted in two Hollywood movies is not interested in his father's business.

Siddarth's exit from UBHL comes ahead of Karnataka High Court hearing arguments by banks on a winding up petition against Vijay Mallya-led United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd for failing to honour corporate guarantees provided to the defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The next day of hearing is on April 11.

Eight banks including BNP Paribas and State Bank of India have filed winding up petitions against UBHL, majority owned by Mallya, for defaulting guarantees given to the beleaguered airline. UBHL had given corporate guarantees to the tune of Rs 7,256.24 crore for loans to run the airline, which has virtually caused the collapse of Mallya's liquor empire.

UBHL has already declared Rs 8,158.89 crore as contingent liabilities for providing guarantees to the airlines, which stopped operations in 2012. UBHL is contesting these cases in the Karnataka High Court, according to regulatory filings by the company in February.

The UB Group chairman owns 52.3% stake in UBHL both personally and through firms such as Watson and McDowell Holdings. UBHL reported a loss of Rs 1.99 crore on Rs 268.19 crore for the nine months to December. Bulk of UBHL's revenue comes from selling Kingfisher beer in Southeast Asian and West Asian markets, where he has the rights to sell the product.