Radico Khaitan Ltd has turned down premium offers for its leading brands, '8 PM' whisky and 'Contessa' rum.
Confirming the development, Amar Sinha, president (sales and marketing) of Radico, said couple of big names from the Indian liquor industry indeed approached the UP-based company.
"But we are in no mood to fizzle out of this business. Our established brands are doing very well and these abortive attempts only reaffirms our conviction," Sinha said. However, he refused to divulge the names of the houses that threw the offer.
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Though whole episode may raise few eyebrows, a little insight to the Radico's portfolio would support the move of the big players.
The company, promoted by Lalit Khaitan, has in its repertoire brands such as '8 PM' which has made into the Limca Book of World Records as the fastest-growing Indian whisky. It sold 10 lakh cases in the first year of its introduction.
The brand is placed at the semi-premium segment and Radico has lined up a major promotional blitzkrieg for it.
Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh is slated to perform at special evenings under the '8 PM' banner at different venues in the country.
On the other hand, Radico's Contessa rum has been well accepted in the defense sector.
The company also has a strong distribution network. All these make Radico a lucrative deal. "Ernst & Young, which was appointed by the company, has pegged the value of 8 PM brand at Rs 325 crore," Sinha claimed.
The company, which owns Rampur Distillery, has plans to roll out two more whiskys, 'Special Appointment' and 'Waah' in semi-premium and economy segment, respectively, in April 2001.
"We are also in talks with different wineries of Argentina, France and South Africa to market red and white wines in India after the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on imports are lifted. Apart from that, marketing a wine with Radico's brandname is also under active consideration," Sinha added.
Brushing aside any plan to sell or hive off even some of its not-so-doing-well Scotch brands, Sinha claimed that the Radico may itself acquire some brands in future after consolidating its position.
Radico clocked a turnover of Rs 250 crore in the last fiscal and this is expected to go up to Rs 325 crore in this financial year.