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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
A major fight over a brand, a rival pushing for a takeover and a mounting pile of debt. Chairman Amit Dahanukar has tackled them all to put the liquor company back in the reckoning.
Editor's note: For much of the last decade, Amit Dahanukar, chairman and managing director of Mansion House brandy maker Tilaknagar Industries Ltd, was a hunted person. First, he was pursued by Kishore Chhabria, the owner of Allied Blenders and Distillers, who wanted to acquire Tilaknagar Industries and add Mansion House to his product portfolio, which included the popular whisky brand Officer’s Choice. News of Chhabria’s interest in Tilaknagar first trickled out in 2013. The ABD chairman had the backing of Herman Jansen, the Dutch company that originally owned the Mansion House brand and accused Tilaknagar of violating the terms of the licensing agreement. But that didn’t work and Chhabria had to withdraw his Rs 1,400 crore bid for Tilaknagar Industries. He then took the fight to the courts. There too he had the support of the Dutch company, which had sold a 50% stake in the Mansion House brand to ABD claiming Tilaknagar’s licence had expired. But the two partners tasted defeat not once, but twice in courts in Mumbai and Delhi. The last of the judgements, in 2019, said Tilaknagar could …
With a top-10 whisky in its fold, Amit Dahanukar’s Tilaknagar finally gets to sell India’s tipple of choice. But the acquisition is much bigger than the brandy maker, and integrating it will not be easy.
Led by MD and CEO Hina Nagarajan, its whisky brands have outpaced many of French rival Pernod Ricard’s for the first time in several years.
The maker of Officer’s Choice whisky may have lost ground to peers but Chhabria is hoping new leadership and a course correction will sway investors.
