Chhabria buys Wales Distilleries

BANGALORE: The liquor baron Kishore Chhabria-led Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), India’s third-largest spirits company, has acquired Wales Distilleries in West Bengal.
The deal is part of ABD’s plan to own distillery and bottling assets to support its expanding volumes sales, which were pegged at 20 million cases last fiscal. The Mumbai-based company owns four such assets and has more than 30 contract bottling ties across India.
The deal gives ABD, makers of the top selling Indian whiskey brand Officer’s Choice, its first company-owned unit in Eastern India. “This is a first in a series of moves that will fuel our expansion plans. West Bengal is a strategic market for ABD with a 21% share of the state liquor sales,” said ABD chief executive Deepak Roy. The financial details of the buyout were not disclosed. Chhabria, who owns 95% stake in ABD, is chalking out a massive expansion plan and is in the market to raise private equity capital to the tune $100 million.