No overseas high for Kingfisher Airlines!

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No overseas high for Kingfisher Airlines!

With Kingfisher Airlines weighed down by debt burden of Rs 6,400 crore, the old king of good times, Vijay Mallya, is said to be looking at raising money from internal sources to keep his airline afloat.

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Did Vijay Mallya's bargain for a piece of the sky force him to come down to earth? With Kingfisher Airlines weighed down by debt burden of Rs 6,400 crore, the old king of good times is said to be looking at raising money from internal sources to keep his airline afloat.

Sunanda Jayaseelan of CNBC-TV18 says that the word is that Mallya may look to consolidate his foreign wine portfolio consisting of Bouvet Ladubay along with Whyte & Mackay, and look at listing it subsequently to raise the required money.

Highly placed sources at United Spirits agreed to the 'rumour'.  While there is no immediate plan to list, the London Exchange would be a preferred destination, reports Jayaseelan. However, there is a glitch in the plan. Any and all money raised there will have to be spent only towards USL's own needs, which means it cannot be used to fund KFA.

Group CFO Ravi Nedungadi was quoted in a recent media interview as saying, "Each of our businesses operates independently and no transfer of resources is envisaged from one operating entity to another. From the day we acquired Whyte & Mackay, we said we would consider listing it at some point. The point is not now..."

A second option for Mallya is divesting stake in United Breweries to Dutch beer major Heineken. The UB group holds 38.69%, while Heineken holds 35.36% in the UB group's beer arm. Experts estimate that Mallya could get approximately Rs 4500 crore if he were to sell his stake. Though the Group had no comments to make when contacted, market sources say the move is hardly surprising, given the fact that United Breweries has over 40% of the Indian beer market and is growing aggressively.

The third option is monetising several land parcels. Mallya is said to be in the process of launching a very high-end residential project in the heart of Bangalore, however he has denied any such move so far. So it is just a wait and watch as to how the king spins around his kingdom.

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