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Tilaknagar Industries to Acquire Imperial Blue from Pernod Ricard India

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  • Tilaknagar Industries to become a PAN-India Player in Alcoholic Beverages
  • Acquisition is a strategic move to fast-track Tilaknagar Industries’ whisky foray
  • Pernod Ricard to accelerate focus on Premiumisation and Innovation

IMFL manufacturer Tilaknagar Industries Limited (TI) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Imperial Blue business division (IB) from Pernod Ricard India Private Limited via slump sale, for a lump sum consideration, basis enterprise value of €412.6 million (which translates to approx. ₹4,150 crores as on date). The consideration includes deferred payment of €28 million (₹282 crore as on date), to be paid four years after the date of closure of the transaction.

The proposed transaction includes acquisition of the IB, with 22.4 million 9-litre cases sold in the year ended March 2025 across India and other markets, including two owned units and services from co-manufacturing bottlers across India.

Imperial Blue is the third largest whisky brand in India by volume, with over 25 years of brand heritage. The underlying business had reported revenue of ₹3,067 crore for the year ended March 2025. TI is one of the leading IMFL players with leadership in brandy, the second largest IMFL category. Mansion House Brandy, TI’s flagship brand, is one of the largest selling brands in India and globally.

This landmark acquisition, largest in Indian alcoholic beverages space by an Indian company, fast-tracks TI’s foray into whisky segment, the largest IMFL category in India. It also significantly expands TI’s distribution reach, reinforcing its evolution into a truly pan-India player having strong scale across both brandy and whisky with a combined volume of 34 million 9-litre cases for the year ended March 2025.

Amit Dahanukar, Chairman and Managing Director, Tilaknagar Industries Limited said, “Having achieved leadership in the brandy segment, it is now time for us to broaden our portfolio and cater to India’s diverse and evolving consumer base. While we continue to grow our business organically, this strategic acquisition allows us to enter the whisky category with one of the country’s most trusted and admired brands.”

Imperial Blue will act as TI’s launchpad for a significant whisky premiumisation journey, enabling TI to build a strong whisky portfolio across premium price-points. “We’re excited to build on Imperial Blue’s strong foundation and take it to new heights”, Dahanukar added.

Tilaknagar Industries reported revenue of ₹1,405 crore and EBITDA of ₹226 crore for the year ended March 2025. The transaction is a result of the continuous assessment and evaluation of strategic opportunities, in line with a longstanding policy to deliver sustainable value for the shareholders, employees and partners of TI.

India, second-largest market for Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard said that the sale strengthens Pernod Ricard India’s portfolio, enabling the business to fully tap into premiumisation trends and support sustained, profitable growth. As Pernod Ricard’s second-largest market, India is a strategic priority, and this realignment improves the ability to capitalise on the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and long-term potential. Upon closing, the transaction is expected to be immediately and meaningfully accretive to Pernod Ricard India’s operating margin and net sales growth rate.

Pernod Ricard’s active portfolio management is a key contributor to its dynamic growth across categories and geographies. The transaction is the result of the Group’s continuous assessment of its strategic opportunities, in line with its long-standing commitment to deliver sustainable value to its shareholders, employees, clients and partners. 

Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard, stated, “We are pleased to announce the sale of the Imperial Blue business division, a strategic move to sharpen our focus on more profitable and faster growing brands in India, like in the rest of the world. This transaction represents a win-win for all stakeholders involved, both at the global and local level. It fuels our ambition to succeed even further in one of our top markets. This will further streamline our operations as we continue to invest in India’s outstanding growth.”

Jean Touboul, CEO of Pernod Ricard India added, “By exiting the Admix Value segment, this disposal will allow Pernod Ricard India to unlock further profitable growth and sharpen its focus on premiumisation and innovation. It will also enable the company to allocate resources more effectively toward high-growth brands such as Royal Stag, which has already surpassed the 30-million cases milestone, Blenders Pride, and international brands like Chivas, Jameson, Absolut, and Ballantine’s. 

Driving the next phase of growth, we are entering an exciting new chapter, one that will see bold innovations and an expanded premium portfolio tailored specifically for the evolving Indian consumer.”

The proposed transaction is subject to approval from the Competition Commission of India, with closure anticipated in about six months from signing the definitive agreement. TI will raise a mix of debt and equity to finance the transaction.

Deutsche Bank and Avendus Capital acted as financial advisors, with Avendus Capital also serving as the exclusive financing arranger to TI. Crawford Bayley & Co. and W.S. Kane & Co. acted as legal counsels while Deloitte served as the diligence advisor to TI.

William Grant continues to grow with a positive momentum

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With an evolving Indian consumer and alcobev market, William Grant & Sons has one of the most enviable portfolios in the industry. From award winning whiskies to popular gins, the company has been enjoying a healthy growth for the past few years. Sachin Mehta, Country Director, William Grant & Sons spoke to Bhavya Desai about the Indian market and the future roadmap for the company. Excerpts:

The overall business has been good for William Grants & Sons (WGS). It’s been growing at a healthy pace informs Sachin Mehta, the Country Director of WGS. The past 3–4-years have been particularly positive as Indian consumers are seeking and appreciating more premium and high-quality and prestigious products. “Our portfolio allows for a great fit to this trend of growing premium and luxury consumption growth in India,” he adds.

And if this trend is anything to go by then the future surely looks bright, with the Indian consumer looking towards more premiumisation, especially since WGS’ portfolio includes some of the most popular brands on the global stage. This includes brands like Grant’s Scotch Whisky, Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, Hendrick’s Gin, Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky and The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Sachin is also delighted to see brands like Hendrick’s, which has led, created and established the premium gin category, on the other hand, Monkey Shoulder has trended very well with its unique premium offering for the young and aware consumer. “We are blessed that our brands and quality liquid is loved by consumers here.”

Despite the popularity and the evolving pallet of the Indian consumer, WGS has no plans of creating specific products for the Indian pallet, not for the near future at least. “Our products have found a good preference to the Indian consumer’s pallet. The Indian consumers now have an evolved preference in line with the most developed in the world. At William Grant & Sons, we are committed to quality premium offerings to consumers and our current portfolio fits well to the evolving preferences of consumers.”

What’s interesting is that despite have a more premium portfolio, WGS has been successfully targetting the more affluent consumer, and the strategy is simple, with the Indian consumer evolving and seeking premiumisation across categories, from watches to cars to high-end spirits etc. – their brands cater to this growing demand for luxury products with their quality liquid.

Combine that with special liquids like the limited-edition releases and aged expressions, offered to collectors and explorers, better availability, an increasingly aware premium consumer and the retail experience have been key drivers in the recent past.

At the company’s UP bottling plant, the company bottles the two variants of Grant’s currently in India – Grant’s Triple Wood and Grant’s Distinction, in the blended scotch whisky category. Overall Grant’s continues to grow with a positive momentum with a dynamic play between the variants depending on the RTM of the state. “We are committed to continue to offer more variants to our consumer on Grants in the future.”

Undoubtedly, India is an important market for WGS not only because it’s growing, but also from the economic front and consumers preferences, tastes and premiumisation. India is now an important part of the global plans across categories and brands. “For example, we recently introduced the Grand Series, with Glenfiddich 21-year-old “Gran Reserve” and Glenfiddich 26-year-old “Grande Couronne”, Glenfiddich 29-Year-Old “Grand Yozakura” and the Time series with Glenfiddich 30-Year-Old – some of them limited editions and some of them rare and unique variants.”

Similarly, there are additional variants being introduced on The Balvenie Range as well. While many of these are still limited and allocated quantities – such variants now being offered to India reflects their commitment and focus on India as a market.

“We have also introduced Smokey Monkey, a new variant of Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Whisky which was highly appreciated for its Smokey taste amongst our consumers. Similarly, Hendrick’s brings its limited-edition variants from the “Cabinet of Curiosity” to explore some curious offerings in India. Starting with Hendrick’s Midsummer Solstice in 2021, followed by Hendrick’s Lunar, Hendrick’s Neptunia, and, most recently, Hendrick’s Flora Adora.”