(Reuters) – India’s United Spirits (UNSP.NS) could attract more buyers for its Whyte & Mackay Scotch whisky business and tip the price over the expected 450 million pounds ($735 million) if it included the single malt Dalmore, sources familiar with the matter say.
A sale of most of Whyte & Mackay was offered last month by Diageo (DGE.L) to appease UK regulators concerned its purchase of a controlling stake in Whyte & Mackay’s owner, United Spirits, would hurt competition in the world’s No. 3 Scotch market behind France and the United States.
Whyte & Mackay has about 7 percent of Britain’s market for blended Scotch whisky, which combines whiskies often made from various grains. It also supplies retailers for own-brand whiskies that account for 18 percent of a market worth $1.74 billion a year, according to researchers IWSR.
Diageo, which already controls more than 20 percent of the blended market, has offered to sell the large grain distillery at Invergordon, which accounts for the bulk of the blended Scotch Whyte & Mackay sells, as well as the smaller malt distilleries Fetercairn and Jura.
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