Vangal in his usual style of acquisitions, has acquired an operating company Mason & Summers in Scotland, which will give him access to some of the finest scotch malts and the tradition of Mason & Summers which was established in 1826.
Announcing this launch, Vangal said, "Mason & Summers will come to the fore in the near future with its range of expertise and deep understanding of the spirits business. We have got seasoned practitioners from this industry who have personally worked with me in my earlier stints. This will give us the bandwidth to foray into this competitive market in India."
The company is looking at a first year turnover of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) and has in the recent past announced two brands - Wild Horse, a whisky, brandy and rum brand and Glen Drummond, which is an 8-year old single malt scotch whisky.
Plans are afoot to launch its third brand, which is expected to be from the Mason & Summers legacy.
Said Kaushik Chatterjee, chief executive officer of Mason & Summers, a veteran at Seagram and instrumental in establishing its Royal Stag brand in India: "We are starting out with a lot of promise and putting in place extensive business plans to fuel the growth.
We currently have six partners in India who are bottling for us and we will gradually widen this presence as demand grows.
At present, we are highly focussed on IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) and at a later stage we might give the beer business a look."
As widely speculated, Chatterjee confirmed that they are bidding for the Shaw Wallace spirits business and have carried out due diligence.
"More than the assets of Shaw Wallace, the brands are a major attraction. We are up against UB, Seagram and a host of other major players and let's see how it pans out."
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