Diageo, USL open offer for Pioneer Distilleries

The offer will be worth over Rs 15.78 crore

UK-based Diageo Plc and United Spirits will launch their open offer for acquiring shares worth Rs 15.78 crore of Vijay Mallya group firm Pioneer Distilleries on August 28.

The proposed open offer is part of the United Spirits-Diageo deal, whereby the UK firm has become the majority shareholder in United Spirits Ltd (USL). According to a regulatory filing today, the open offer for Pioneer Distilleries would begin on August 28 and end on September 11.

The offer would be made by Relay B V, which is part of Diageo Plc, along with Diageo and United Spirits. Under the offer, these entities plan to acquire “up to 2,466,168 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at an offer price of Rs 64.02 per equity share,” the filing said.

The offer would be worth over Rs 15.78 crore. United Spirits holds 81.58 per cent stake in Pioneer Distilleries and through the offer, the entities are looking to buy all the remaining shares in the target company.

As per the filing, Pioneer Distilleries has been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under provisions applicable for a sick company.

“The BIFR at its last hearing dated May 28, 2013 issued directions to all statutory authorities concerned to file their objections on the sickness of the target company within a period of two weeks from May 28, 2013 and fixed the next date of the hearing on July 31, 2013,” it added.

Diageo, the world’s largest spirits maker, recently acquired 25.02 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits on completion of a share purchase deal. Last year, Diageo had announced that it would pick up 53.4 per cent stake in United Spirits in a multi-structured deal for a total of Rs 11,166.5 crore.

Instead, it now has 25.02 per cent stake in United Spirits for a total consideration of Rs 5,235.85 crore.

However, Diageo’s open offer to buy another 26 per cent stake from United Spirits’ public shareholders had elicited tepid response.