United Breweries Group: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Indian conglomerate}}

{{brewbox_begin|name=United Breweries Limited}}

{{Use Indian English|date=July 2022}}

{{brewbox_image|image=[[Image:United_Breweries_Logo.jpg|120 px|United Breweries Logo]]|caption=}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}

{{brewbox_location|___location=[[Bangalore|Bangalore, Karnataka]]<br/>[[India]]}}

{{Infobox company

{{brewbox_owner|owner=[[The UB Group]]}}

| name = United Breweries Limited

{{brewbox_opened|year=[[1915]]}}

| logo = United Breweries Group logo.png

{{brewbox_production|amount=? L}}

| logo_size = 125px

{{brewbox_beers}}

| image = UB City.jpg

{{brewbox_beer|name=Kingfisher Premium|style=[[Lager]]}}

| image_caption = UB City (headquarters) in [[Bangalore]]

{{brewbox_end}}

| type = [[Privately held company|Private]]

| foundation = {{Start date and age|1857||}}

| founder =

| location_city = [[UB City]], [[Bangalore]], [[Karnataka]]

| location_country = India

| area_served = Worldwide

| key_people = Vivek Gupta<br>([[Chief executive officer|CEO]]) <ref>{{Cite web | title=UBL news: UBL appoints Vivek Gupta as its new MD - The Economic Times | url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/ubl-appoints-vivek-gupta-as-its-new-md/articleshow/103463866.cms?from=mdr | access-date=2025-03-09 | website=economictimes.indiatimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=United Breweries appoints Vivek Gupta as MD & CEO - The Hindu BusinessLine | url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/united-breweries-appoints-vivek-gupta-as-md-ceo/article67280421.ece | access-date=2025-03-09 | website=www.thehindubusinessline.com}}</ref>

| industry = [[Conglomerate (company)|Conglomerate]]

| products = {{Flatlist|

* [[Fertilizer]]

* [[engineering]]

* [[aviation]]

* [[alcoholic beverages]]

}}

| revenue = {{up}} {{INRConvert|7549|c}} (2023)<ref>{{cite web |title=United Brewery Ltd. |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/united-breweries-ltd/profitandlose/companyid-1367.cms |website=The Economic Times |publisher=The Times Group}}</ref>

| operating_income = {{up}}

{{INRConvert|403|c}} (2023)

| net_income = {{up}}

{{INRConvert|304|c}} (2023)

| assets = {{up}}

{{INRConvert|6280|c}} (2023)

| equity = {{up}}

{{INRConvert|3965|c}} (2023)

| owner = [[Heineken N.V.|Heineken]]

| brands = [[Kingfisher beer|Kingfisher]]<br>[[London Pilsner]]

| active_beers =

| num_employees = 50,000 (2017)<ref name="es">{{cite web |url=http://www.essar.com/section_level1.aspx?cont_id=SD7sjPUVBkw= |publisher=Essar Group |date=23 June 2010 |title=Corporate profile - About us - Essar |access-date=11 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810135051/http://www.essar.com/section_level1.aspx?cont_id=SD7sjPUVBkw= |archive-date=10 August 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| subsid =

* Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers

* UB Overseas Limited

* Kingfisher Training and Aviation Services Ltd.

* UB Infrastructure Projects Ltd.

* United Breweries Of America Inc.

* UB International Trading Ltd.

* UB Electronic Instruments Ltd.

* Kingfisher Finvest India Ltd.

| homepage = {{URL|https://www.unitedbreweries.com/}}

}}

'''United Breweries Holdings Limited''' ('''UBHL'''), also called '''UB Group''', is the Indian subsidiary of [[Heineken N.V.]]. It is headquartered in [[UB City]], [[Bangalore]], [[Karnataka]]. Its core business includes beverages and investments in various sectors. The company markets beer under the [[Kingfisher (beer)|Kingfisher brand]], and owns various other brands of [[alcoholic beverages]]. United Breweries is India's largest producer of beer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gupta |first1=Soumya |title=Kingfisher's market share drops as foreign beer brands gain ground |url=https://www.livemint.com/Companies/pSVB3cyL8nI1CO4oofqVgO/Kingfishers-market-share-drops-as-foreign-beer-brands-gain.html |website=livemint |date=26 December 2017 |publisher=HT Media}}</ref>

'''United Breweries Limited''' is best known for brewing [[Kingfisher Premium Lager]], which was first brewed in 1857.

United Breweries now has greater than a 40% share of the Indian brewing market with 79 distilleries and bottling units around the world. In 2005, UB financed a takeover of the spirits business of the rival [[Shaw-Wallace]] company, giving it a majority share of India's spirits business.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mallya bottles Shaw Wallace |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050322/asp/business/story_4522815.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405162904/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050322/asp/business/story_4522815.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2005 |publisher=The Telegraph |date=22 March 2005}}</ref> The group no longer owns the [[Mendocino Brewing Company]] in the United States.

== External links ==

*[http://www.kingfisherworld.com Kingfisher Premium Lager website]

*[http://www.theubgroup.com/beveragealcohol.html The UB Group beverage website]

*[http://www.kingfisherworld.com/corporate/corporate-history.htm Company History]

==History==

The UB Group was founded by a [[Scottish people|Scotsman]], Thomas Leishman, in 1915, when he brought together Castle Brewery and Nilgiris Breweries (1857), Bangalore Brewing Co. (1885), British Brewing Corp. (1903), and BBB Brewery Co. Ltd. (1913). The Group took its initial lessons in manufacturing [[beer]] from [[South India|South India-based]] British Breweries. At 22, [[Vittal Mallya]] was elected as the company's first Indian director in 1947. After a year, he replaced R. G. N. Price as the company's chairman.

United Breweries made its initial impact by manufacturing bulk beer for the British troops before independence which was transported in huge barrels or "Hogsheads". Kingfisher, the Group's most visible and profitable brand, made a modest entry in the sixties. The company expanded greatly during the 1950s and 60s by acquiring other breweries. First was the addition of McDowell as one of the Group subsidiaries. This move helped United Breweries to extend its portfolio to the wines and spirits business. As a strategical measure, the Group moved into agro-based industries and medicines. The former is marked by Mallya acquiring Kissan<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kissan.in/|title=Home|website=www.kissan.in}}</ref> Products. A long-term relationship with [[Hoechst AG]] of [[Germany]] was also established, resulting in the creation of an Indian pharmaceutical company, [[Aventis Pharma]]. (Currently the Indian subsidiary of the global pharmaceuticals major [[Sanofi-Aventis]]).

UB Group had a relationship with [[United Spirits Limited]], now majority-owned (54.8%) by [[Diageo]].

{{beer-stub}}

The conglomerate was headed by [[Vijay Mallya]], who left India on 2 March 2016, allegedly to escape legal action by Indian banks to whom he owed an estimated ₹9,000 crore (US$1.1 billion) in loans.

In June 2021, [[Heineken N.V.]] bought out Mallya's 15% stake in United Breweries Limited for ₹5,825 crores (US$730 million) from the [[Debt Recovery Tribunal (India)|Debt Recovery Tribunal]]. With this, Heineken's stake in the company increased to 61.5%, taking control of United Breweries.<ref name="mallyastake">{{cite news |last1=Chatterjee |first1=Dev |last2=Sahu |first2=Ram Prasad |title=Heineken buys Mallya's 15% stake to take control of United Breweries |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/heineken-buys-mallya-s-15-stake-to-take-control-of-united-breweries-121062301710_1.html |access-date=16 June 2022 |work=Business Standard India |date=23 June 2021}}</ref>

In May 2023, employees, terminated from service at the United Breweries factory located near Ranasthalam, Srikakulam on account of reduced orders, staged protest.<ref>{{cite news |title=Andhra Pradesh: Employees of United Breweries stage protest against termination of service |newspaper=The Hindu |date=9 May 2023 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/andhra-pradesh-employees-of-united-breweries-stage-protest-against-termination-of-service/article66830479.ece/amp/ |access-date=30 May 2023}}</ref>

==The logo==

[[File:Kingfisher beer ad in Goa.JPG|thumb|250px|A Kingfisher beer advertisement in [[Goa]]]]

The [[Pegasus]], which is the symbol of the United Breweries, first found its place as the Group logo in 1941.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Then, the [[Helladic]] horse – associated with [[beer]] and [[nectar]] in Greek [[mythology]] – carried a beer cask between the wings, ostensibly because beer formed the core operations of the Group. Later, the beer cask was removed to represent the Group's multifaceted operations.

==Subsidiaries==

*'''United Breweries Limited''' – the UB Group's brewing entity, which has undisputed market leadership with a national market share in excess of 50%. The UB Group today controls 60% of the total manufacturing capacity for beer in India. United Breweries is controlled by [[Heineken N.V.]] which owns a majority stake in the company.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.firstpost.com/business/vijay-mallya-not-on-high-spirits-anymore-heineken-looking-to-take-control-of-united-breweries-2676500.html | title=While everyone's scrapping over Vijay Mallya, Heineken moves in on United Breweries | date=15 March 2016 | publisher=Firstpost | access-date=25 September 2018}}</ref>

*'''UB Engineering''' – the group's engineering business arm. It undertakes [[engineering, procurement and construction]] projects, infrastructure, on-site fabrication of structures, installation, testing and commissioning of electrical and mechanical equipment, piping for large industrial projects. The company was initially established as Western India Erectors in 1963 and came under the UB Group in 1988.

*'''UBICS''' – providing IT consulting, body shopping services and professional IT products to business companies.

===Defunct subsidiaries===

*'''Kingfisher Airlines''' – UB Group launched [[Kingfisher Airlines]], an airline in India whose operation was halted after problems in 2012 that led to its licence being revoked by the [[Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India)|DGCA]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/government-withdraws-all-international-flying-rights-and-domestic-slots-from-kingfisher-airlines/articleshow/18684088.cms/|title=economic express}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[United Spirits]]

* [[Kingfisher Airlines]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* {{official website|http://unitedbreweries.com/}}

{{Heineken International}}{{Nifty 200 companies}}

{{Alcohol in India}}

{{Alcohol by countries}}

{{Alcoholic beverages}}

{{Indian beverages}}

{{Beers of the world}}

{{Prohibition |state=collapsed}}

{{Social issues in India}}

{{Whisky |state=collapsed}}

{{coord missing|Karnataka}}

[[Category:Heineken subsidiaries]]

[[Category:United Breweries Group]]

[[Category:Breweries in India]]

[[Category:Beer brands]]

[[Category:British companies established in 1857]]

[[Category:Multinational breweries]]

[[Category:Food and drink companies established in 1857]]

[[Category:1857 establishments in British India]]

[[Category:Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange]]

[[Category:Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India]]

[[Category:Indian companies established in 1857]]

[[Category:Indian companies established in 1915]]