Success story of Billionaire & Business Tycoon Vijay mallya, Chairman of United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India F1 Team, Royal Challengers, East Bengal FC ..... Born on 18 December 1955 (1955-12-18) in Kolkata, India Occupation Chairman of : United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India F1 Team, Royal Challengers Bangalore & East Bengal FC Education Degree in Commerce form Kolkata University Dr. Vijay Mallya is a Bangalore - based billionaire businessman and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha since 2002) from India. He is the son of a famous industrialist Vittal Mallya and is the chairman of the United Beverages Group . The UB Group is one of India's largest conglomerates with annual sales of over US$ 4 billion and a market capitalization of approximately US$ 12 billion. The Group has diverse interests in brewing, distilling, real estate, engineering, fertilizers, biotechnology, information technology and aviation. It is also the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol (beer and spirits). He also owns the Formula One team Force India, the Indian Premier League team Bangalore Royal Challengers, and the I-League team East Bengal FC Personal life Mallya born in a Konkani Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family originally from the town of Bantwal (near Mangalore) in Karnataka. He is the son of Vittal Mallya and Lalitha Ramaiah. He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Kolkata and completed his degree at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Business Administration by the California Southern University Career Mallya worked for the American Hoechst Corporation (now Sanofi-Aventis) in the US and with Jenson & Nicholson in the UK. Since 1980, he assisted his father, the then Chairman of The UB Group, in managing the important Brewing and Spirits Divisions and in re-launching the Kingfisher Brand of Beer. Mallya, was elected by shareholders as Chairman of UB in 1983, at the age of 28. Expansion of UB Group Upon assuming the position of Chairman in He also initiated several ventures for the October 1983, Dr. Mallya initiated the promotion and globalization of UB brands process of defining a corporate structure and, in particular, Kingfisher and McDowell. with performance accountability, inducting UB Spirits Division is one of only three in the professional management and world to own fifteen millionaire brands and at consolidating the unwieldy empire into least five brands rated by Drinks individual operating divisions. International, UK to be amongst the ten In 1988, Mallya became a non-resident fastest growing brands in the world in their Indian to pursue global opportunities and respective categories. The market share of to transform The UB Group into India's first the Spirits Division in India is currently 60% multinational company. While, in the initial and exports to the Middle East, Africa and stages, overseas representative offices Asian countries are growing rapidly. had been commissioned, the real break In 2007, United Spirits Limited, the flagship came in 1988 when Mallya, in a leveraged of The UB Group, acquired a hundred buyout, acquired the global Berger Paints percent of premium scotch distillers Whyte & Group with operating companies across Mackay and Liquidity Inc, a United States- four continents. The exit strategy for this based maker of specialty vodkas. The investment was profitably executed when Delaware-based Liquidity Inc produces Mallya successfully directed five Initial specialty brands like Pinky Vodka and Public Offerings on the London , Singapore Marakesh. (Main Boards), Nairobi, Jamaica and The UB Group's Brewing Division has also Abidjan Stock Exchanges. The paints assumed undisputed market leadership with business was divested for significant value a national market share in excess of 48%. in 1996. The UB Group controls 60% of the total Mallya also founded a software company manufacturing capacity for beer in India. The in the US in 1993 which was subsequently flagship brand, Kingfisher, is now sold in listed on the NASDAQ in 1996 and which over 50 countries worldwide having received provides a considerable window of many accolades for its quality. opportunity to the vast US market. Airlines In 2005, Mallya established Kingfisher The combined entity of Kingfisher Airlines Airlines. Kingfisher Airlines is today the currently operates a fleet of 49 brand new undisputed market leader in India's Airbus A-320 family aircraft and 30 ATR booming aviation market. In the short span aircraft. of just under three years since it was In 2007, Mallya made a strategic and launched, Kingfisher Airlines has redefined significant investment in Epic Aircraft, a US- the whole experience of flying and has based aircraft manufacturing company raised the bar by unleashing a host of specializing in high performance airplanes- product and service innovations. It has Very Light Jets (VLJ). received over thirty awards since its Mallya is the Chairman of public companies inception. both in India as well as in the US. He has With the merger of Air Deccan and been the Chairman of Aventis Pharma India Kingfisher Airlines, the airline covers all (previously Hoechst) as well as the segments of air travel from low fares to Chairman of Bayer Crop Science in India premium fares and offers the maximum (previously Agrevo) for over 20 years, in number of flights offered by any single addition to his Chairmanship of several other airline network in India. corporations. India's largest domestic airline connects 71 cities and has 549 daily departures. He is a keen sportsman and is an ardent aviator and yachtsman of distinction. He not only participates in various sporting events but also supports various sporting activities worldwide, particularly for the under privileged. Force India Formula One Team: Mallya is the first Indian ever to become the owner of a Formula One Team. In 2007, Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros. The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season. Team¶s car VJM-01 was named after its owners Vijay Mallya, Jan Mol and Michiel Mol. Mallya also serves as the Chairman of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, the Government of India, recognized National sporting body as well as the Motor Sports Association of India, the current FIA ASN for India. Football Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata. He also was part of the consortium that acquired Queens Park Rangers FC, as part of the Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal. Cricket Mallya¶s flagship firm UB Group owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League. He won this team in an auction by paying US$111.6 million for the team. Auction purchases Vijay Mallya is noted for his successful bidding in auction of items that are considered of great cultural value to India. In 2004, he placed the winning bid of £175,000 for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London, and brought it back to India. In March 2009, Mallya successfully bid for the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi at US$1.8 million, in a New York auction that initially caused uproar in India and its government tried and failed to prevent it from going under the hammer. Social initiatives Personally and through his businesses, Mallya contributes to charities and foundations in several countries. In addition, the super speciality Mallya Hospital, the Mallya-Aditi School and the Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation in Bangalore, India, are some of the foundations with which he is personally associated. Awards & Honors Mallya was nominated 'global leader for tomorrow' by the World Economic Forum, Davos, in 1995 Over the years he has been conferred industry awards for his contributions to business Courtesy : Web features United Breweries to merge Millennium Alcobev with itself Press Trust Of India / New Delhi September 15, 2010, 0:24 IST Vijay Mallya-promoted United Breweries today said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would merge its group firm Millennium Alcobev and its subsidiaries with itself. The company's board of directors has approved the merger. According to the company, this is the first step in the creation of a fully-integrated brewing entity. C S E lick here to visit M Buzz Also Read w r S Ne s elated tories Now - United Breweries to spend Rs 150 cr on capex in FY11 - United Spirits to buy 54.69% stake in PDL for Rs 73.95 cr - Essar think-tank to drive retail vision - Kingfisher shares rally on plan to cut debt - Kingfisher Airlines to raise Rs 5,000 cr - Kingfisher board okays raising up to Rs 5,000 cr Also Read w r S Ne s elated tories Now - Markets cheer RBI policy; Sensex jumps 200pts - BPTP's IPO uncertain over market condition - Indian Bank targets up to 28% credit growth this fiscal - Sebi bars five cos and their directors from trading in markets - Will try to resolve 3G security issues soon: Sibal More "The combined entity will create significant value for all the shareholders and will help in optimising revenue, cost and capital synergies," UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said. Millennium Alcobev, a joint venture between UBL and Heineken, has three operating companies with breweries located in Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These have an annual capacity of 33 million cases. Last year, Heineken and UB Group had announced the mergers of Millennium Alcobev with the India major following an agreement to jointly do business in the country. USL to buy 54.69% in PDL United Breweries Group¶s flagship company United Spirits said it had inked a deal to acquire a 54.69 per cent stake in Pioneer Distilleries Ltd (PDL) for '73.95 crore.