Heineken picks up United Breweries shares worth Rs 179-cr

New Delhi: Beer maker Heineken International today consolidated its stake in United Breweries Ltd (UBL) by picking up over 21 lakh shares of Vijay Mallya-led firm for Rs 179 crore through open market transactions.  The shares were sold by Financial services firm ECL Finance and private sector lender Yes Bank. According to bulk deal data available with stock exchanges, Heineken International purchased a total of 21,15,088 shares, amounting to 0.79 per cent stake, of UBL. The shares were purchased at about Rs 846 apiece, valuing the transaction at Rs 178.97 crore. Individually, Heineken bought over 15.15 lakh shares from ECL Finance and six lakh scrips from Yes Bank. UBL, India’s largest brewer, makes Kingfisher Beer. At the end of December, Heineken held 42.22 per cent stake in UBL through three companies - Heineken International B V, Heineken UK Ltd and Scottish & Newscastle India Ltd. While Scottish & Newscastle India Ltd held 34.04 per cent stake in the firm, Heineken International B V held 4.97 per cent and Heineken UK Ltd held 3.21 per cent. Heineken had indirectly acquired 37.5 per cent stake in UBL following its worldwide takeover of Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) in January, 2008. After that, Heineken has been raising stake in UBL through open market transactions. Earlier in November, Heineken International had bought 4.25 lakh shares worth Rs 39.48 crore in UBL through an open market transaction. Shares of UBL today closed at Rs 834.75 apiece on the BSE, down 0.93 per cent from previous close. PTI