whyte mackays presence in india is driven by trading subsidiary kyndal india whyte mackay had relaunched each of these brands last year in new packages mallyas united breweries today controls 70 of the spirit market in india however it pulled back from that decision after scotch whisky sales witnessed a 10 spike in volumes both in the asian and latin american markets investment banking sources close to him say mallya has offered to acquire the tail brands of whyte mackay a privately held glasgowbased company known for its scotch whiskies this was also the time that the company had put two of its distilleries in europe on the block just when the company was feeling enthused by the volumes came mallyas big ticket offer ambit corporate finance has also been appointed as one of the investment bankers to scout for more brands overseas right now we are engaged in reviving the marketing tieup they had with shaw wallace he withdrew from the race after the seller asked him to hike the offer price by 1520 the finances to secure the transaction have been tied up citibank standard chartered and icici bank have reportedly been approached by the ub group in the more recent past mallya had made an attempt to buy the french spirits major taittinger for rs 3000 crore his vice like grip on the domestic market tightened after he snapped up shaw wallace sources close to ub say an acquisition in europe will benefit ub hugely mumbai one of them we are talking to is whyte mackay the brands in his sight include isle of jura single malt dalmore scotch vladivar and glavya liquere apparently he has offered to pay 460 million for the brands for liquor baron vijay mallya snapping companies up is now becoming a hobby pretty much like buying a plane or a yacht when contacted mallya said i have indicated in the past that we are looking to acquire the tail brands of international spirit companies this sources say has compelled a rethink inside whyte mackay on future strategies essentially it takes care of marketing the companys brands including absolut vodka this was subsequent to a 100 million restructuring exercise which meant that the company had to shift its focus from bulk and private labels to selling own brands the distribution network of the acquired company can be used to launch ubs products in the european market