Mansion House:Tilaknagar says open to settle row with Dutch co

Days after Allied Distillers & Blenders (ABD) picked up 50 per cent brand rights of the disputed brand Mansion House brandy and impleaded itself into the pending case, Tilaknagar Industries, which claims full ownership of the Dutch brand, has said it is open to settle the seven-year-old case out of court with Herman Jansen.
"Yes, I am open to an out-of-court settlement with the Dutch company over the Mansion House (MH) brandy and Savoy Club rum and gin brands. That doesn't in any way mean that I am negating my ownership on these brands. At the end of the day, I am a businessman and I'd not like to run into the courts very often," Tilaknagar chairman and managing director Amit Dahanukar told PTI.

While denying that Tilaknagar is on the block, he said that he is open to divest a high minority stake in the company to anyone who can infuse funds, including ABD. He is also open to private equity funding.
He also described ABD owners Kishore Chhabria and Deepak Roy as long-time family friends.
Saying that he does not care about the Dutch company's agreement with ABD, he described their decision to sell 50 per cent of ownership rights on MH and Savoy Club to ABD last week as "illegal and a desperate attempt to remain floating" and alleged that this illegal move is aimed at "extracting some pound of flesh from his company by the sinking Herman Jansen."

"Jansens are on the verge of bankruptcy as it has no business left in Europe and the US, its major markets. I built MH into the world's second largest brandy selling close to 5 million cases annually, and now after two decades they are claiming ownership," Dahanukar said.

He further claimed the Dutch firm had ceded ownership on MH and SC over 20 years ago to him following a Rotterdam court interventions and banned them selling brandy in 1987.
"Which businessman can ignore his brand for more than two decades? Why have they suddenly woken up to claim ownership? Because Herman Jansen is neck deep in debt with an accumulated loss of over 15 million euros," Dahanukar claimed.

The 81-year-old Tilaknagar, set up in 1933 as Maharashtra Sugar Mills in Ahmednagar, entered the liquor business in 1987 and is now the fifth largest domestic liquor firm with over two dozen brands straddling all segments.
Dahanukar said Tilaknagar entered into brand licensing with UTO Netherlands, the original owners of MH and Savoy Club, way back in 1983 and 1987 after taking over the brands from UTO, the current owners Jansens had ceded control over these brands to Tilaknagar as they were barred from selling brandy.
But soon the Jansens began to neglect MH and when they lost their whisky business in the US and Europe, they suddenly woke up to claim ownership on MH which is legally mine now, he claimed.