By Khushi Malhotra and Dharamraj Dhutia
MUMBAI (Reuters) -Indian liquor makers Inbrew Beverages and Tilaknagar Industries are seeking to tap the private credit market as they compete with each other to acquire Pernod Ricard’s Imperial Blue, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The companies are looking to raise around $500 million each and have reached out to private credit funds to back their acquisition, the sources, who did not want to be named as they are not authorised to speak to media, said last week.
Imperial Blue, India’s third-largest whiskey brand by sales, has been valued at about $600 million to $650 million, according to a report in the Business Standard newspaper.
“Both the companies have reached out to private credit funds to back them up whenever they win the bid,” said a fund manager at a private credit fund, which has provided commitments to both the firms.
“Many funds have given commitments to both the issuers, as only one of them will actually go ahead with the borrowing.”
Avendus Capital is the banker for Tilaknagar Industries, while Standard Chartered Bank will be acting as the banker for Inbrew Beverages, two of the sources said.
Inbrew Beverages, Tilaknagar Industries, Avendus Capital and Standard Chartered Bank did not immediately reply to Reuters’ emails seeking comment.
Fund managers expect the Imperial Blue acquisition to be finalised over the next month as the companies are in an advanced stage of talks.
If the deal goes through, it will be the largest in India’s alcoholic beverage industry in more than a decade. The last big acquisition happened in 2013, when Diageo bought United Spirits for $1.9 billion.
(Reporting by Khushi Malhotra and Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
