Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has got a total remuneration of about Rs 1.5 crore from two overseas companies for the year 2012, as the amount remained unchanged from the previous year.
The total remuneration of $263,700 (about Rs 1.47 crore) for 2012 included $1,20,000 for services rendered as chairman of a company called Mendocino Brewing Company, the US-listed firm has disclosed in a regulatory filing here.
Besides, Mallya was paid 89,600 British pounds (about $143,700) by Mendocino’s wholly-owned subsidiary, United Breweries International (UK) Ltd for promoting its “products in the foreign territory outside the United Kingdom”.
Mendocino, in which India-listed United Breweries Holdings Ltd has 68.1 per cent stake and another group firm United Breweries of America has 24.5 per cent stake, has got exclusive licence to brew and distribute Kingfisher Premium Lager beer in certain foreign markets.
The company operates in the US, Canada and various European markets and has Mallya as its chairman. Its main shareholder UB Holdings Ltd (UBHL) is the holding company of all the listed entities of Mallya-led UB group in India.
As non-executive chairman of UBHL, Mallya was paid total sitting fees of Rs 1.4 lakh in the fiscal 2011-12, the latest year for which the information has been disclosed as yet.
The UB group is facing difficulties at its aviation venture Kingfisher Airlines for quite some time and it has been grounded since October 2012, primarily due to mounting debt and losses, as also non-payment of staff salaries.
The lenders of Kingfisher have been asking the promoters to infuse their own funds into the business, but no headway has been made despite numerous rounds of negotiations and the banks have now begun the process of recovering their loans.
Incidentally, Mendocino also disclosed in its filing with the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it has been given a “letter of financial support” from UBHL, wherein it has been promised funding on an “as needed basis” to Kingfisher Beer Europe Limited (KBEL).
KBEL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UB International (UK) Ltd, which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Mendocino.
“On March 22, 2013, United Breweries (Holdings) Limited issued a letter of financial support on behalf of KBEL, to KBEL’s accountants, to confirm that UBHL had agreed to provide funding on an as needed basis to KBEL to ensure that KBEL is able to meet its financial obligations as and when they fall due,” Mendocino said.
This Letter of Support would be available till at least March 22, 2014. “If it becomes necessary to seek UBHL’s financial assistance under the Letter of Support and UBHL is either unable or unwilling to fulfil its commitment to KBEL, or to extend the time period of such commitment, it may result in a material adverse effect on KBEL’s, UBIUK’s and our financial position and on our ability to continue operations,” it added.