Whyte & Mackay officially has a new owner after Philippines company Emperador Inc, though its UK subsidiary Emperadour UK Ltd, completed its acquisition of the Glasgow-based Scotch whisky maker, at the end of October. Emperador, who sell 33 million cases of brandy a year, paid £430m for the Group after signing a deal with United Spirits (GB) back in May.
As well as brandy, the group part of Andrew Tan’s holding company Alliance Global Group,also has food restaurants and resorts. Tan said in a statement that his company is looking forward to develop “a scotch whisky drinking culture in the Philippines.”
“We are going to officially launch and sell the existing Whyte & Mackay products, especially The Dalmore, Jura, and Whyte & Mackay in the Philippines soon,” he said.
Whyte & Mackay has had quite a few owners over the past 30 years. In 1988 it was sold to Fortune Brands who subsequently sold it to its management team, backed by WestLB. They operated under the moniker Kyndal and the deal came in at £200m. Then in February 2005, Vivien Immerman bought Whyte & Mackay from WestLB through a buy-out with his former brother-in-law, tycoon Robert Tchenguiz. He sold the distiller two years later to United Spirits for £595m. Then earlier this year United Spirits was forced to sell the brand for antitrust reasons following a move by rival Diageo to buy a controlling stake in USL.
In May after securing the brand new owner Andrew Tan said, “We believe that Whyte and Mackay is a prized asset with excellent growth opportunity and its acquisition is in line with our plans to enhance our product portfolio.”