Heineken offers to buy out 29% in United Breweries: Sources

Heineken has offered to buy out the 29 percent stake in United Breweries Limited from the UB Group and is seeking to take over management and operational control completely. CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena reports that the deal will fructify soon.One of the most awaited deals in the last five years, Heineken has been eyeing UB's stake for long -- over three years, it has gradually upped its stake by buying up whatever shares lenders were selling in the open market. Right now, Heineken is the largest shareholder in the company at about 42.2 percent while UB holds about 32.6 percent. Sources say Heineken has made an offer to the UB Group to buy out 29 percent stake for about Rs 950-975 per share. That is a little bit of a premium to the current market price. The UB Group, on the other hand, is quoting a slightly higher amount, and negotiations are on.UB Group will retain about 3.5 percent of stake, which is Vijay Mallya’s shareholding. If UB accepts the offer, Heineken will take over complete board, management and operational control. The entire board will be restructured and rejigged in a manner wherein all UB Group executives of the board or representatives of the board will be step down and only Vijay Mallya will retain one board seat given the fact that will continue to have around 3.5 percent stake. It is understood that there are board meetings scheduled likely at both United Breweries Holdings and then United Breweries Limited, which will be assessing the offer. When contacted, Heineken said reports about an offer for UBL shares were rumours and as a matter of policy, it does not comment on rumours in the market place.United Breweries responded to CNBC-TV18, saying it "sternly denied" the contents of the story.