Not received notice from SFIO: United Breweries

Vijay Mallya group firm United Breweries today said it has not received any notice from Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) over alleged fund diversions by the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines to other group entities.
United Breweries' submission to the stock exchanges comes a day after United Spirits Ltd (USL), which is now controlled by Diageo, said SFIO has sought information from the company about alleged fund diversions by Kingfisher Airlines.
"We would like to inform you that United Breweries Ltd (UBL) has not received any kind of notice from SFIO nor is aware of any development in this regard," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

Yesterday, United Spirits had confirmed that the SFIO has sought information from the company about alleged fund diversions by Kingfisher Airlines.
USL had said it has received a letter from SFIO in connection with its investigation into Kingfisher Airlines.
Without disclosing specific details, United Spirits said it was cooperating with the authorities in providing the required information.

UBL's filing came in response to clarification sought by the BSE about reports that SFIO was probing flow of funds between Kingfisher Airlines and some other group companies, including United Breweries.
Going by reports, the amount involved is estimated to be worth thousands of crores.

Faced with mounting debt and operational woes, Kingfisher Airlines was grounded in late 2012. The carrier had accumulated losses of Rs 16,023 crore, while its net worth fell to a negative Rs 12,919 crore at the end of March 2013.
Shares of United Breweries fell 1.84 per cent to Rs 851.45 on the BSE.