Bengaluru: Liquor firm United Spirits Ltd (USL) received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 2 November to sell its stake in subsidiary United Spirits Nepal Pvt. Ltd, the firm said in a filing with the BSE on Friday. This is part of USL’s wider strategy to dispose of non-core assets and reduce debt.
The stake sale was initially announced in January 2016, subject to approval. As per terms of the sale, Diageo Plc-owned USL was to sell its entire 82.46% stake in the subsidiary to Rajesh Bir Singh Tuladhar of Kathmandu, an existing shareholder of United Spirits Nepal. The firm had said it would sell its stake at Nepalese Rs5,042 per share, amounting to a total of Nepalese Rs34.14 crore.
USL will continue to have a licensing arrangement with United Spirits Nepal and products bearing its brand names will continue to be manufactured, marketed and sold in the country, USL had said in January.
USL plans to sell Rs2,000 crore of non-core assets in the next three-four years, its chief financial officer Sanjeev Churiwala said in a conference call with analysts on 27 October. The sale of non-core assets will first involve residential and commercial property sales, Churiwala added on that call.