bengaluru troubled tycoon vijay mallya on thursday resigned as the chairman of united spirits usl the countrys largest liquor company founded by his late father vittal mallya almost a year after its board had asked him to step down citing certain inappropriate dealings which occurred on his watch former hindustan unilever veteran m k sharma has been appointed as the new nonexecutive chairman of usl now controlled by londonbased diageo plc the time has now come for me to move on and end all the publicised allegations and uncertainties about my relationship with diageo and united spirits limited mallya said i am pleased to have been able to agree terms with diageo and united spirits limited the agreement we have reached secures my family legacy he added vittal mallya had set up usl soon after ndias independence mallya said he has decided to spend more time in england with his children including eldest son siddharth mallya who is pursuing studies in london mallya had earlier told toi that he was relinquishing control of his group companies as there was no family succession plan his son who briefly dabbled in business had then relocated to los angeles to pursue an acting careermallyas exit is a sordid story of a flamboyant industrialist walking away from his flagship as a fallout of the disastrous foray into aviationthe grounded kingfisher airlines which saddled the group with rs 7000crore debt the latest development unfolded even as sbi and punjab national bank declared him a wilful defaulter which threatened to jeopardize banking ties of the companies on which he remains a board membermallya who turned 60 last december has signed a fiveyear noncompete agreement and will desist from buying additional shares in usl mallya had agreed to sell controlling interest to diageo paving the way for a3billion takeover in 2012 however ties between mallya and diageo soured soon thereafter with the board taking note of certain related party transactions which were rejected by the shareholdersusl will pay mallya 75 million over the next five years towards noncompete and noninterference agreements struck as part of the latters exit deal the initial tranche of 30 million will be paid in the first year usl will also allow its former chairman to buy back some of the real estate assets including niladri mansion in south mumbai which was one of his personal homes at the prevailing market value mallya continues to hold a 4 stake though almost all of this is pledged to various lenders of kingfisherthis agreement is an affirmative action by which vijay mallya is disassociating himself from the company completely abanti shankaranarayanan a spokesperson for diageo said in a late night conference call this rescues the company from all contingent liabilities safeguards its banking relationships and enables it to focus on performing better in indias 300billion liquor market she added in april last year usl board controlled by diageo sought mallyas resignation stating it had lost confidence in him continuing as chairman of the company due