Vijay Mallya
KINGFISHER
| Dr. Vijay Mallya | |
| Born | December 18, 1955  Bantwal, Karnataka, IN |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Rajya Sabha M.P., Chairman- United Breweries Group, Kingfisher Airlines, Force India, Royal Challengers Bangalore, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders |
| Net worth | ▲US$1.2 billion |
Dr. Vijay Mallya (Kannada\Konkani: ವಿಜಯ ಮಲ್ಯ) : (born December 18, 1955) is an Indian businessman and Rajya Sabha MP. The son of industrialist Vittal Mallya, he is the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group's flagship beer brand, Kingfisher.
As of 2008, Mallya was ranked as the 962nd richest person in the world and the 42nd in India with a net worth of US$1.2 billion. [1] He receives substantial press coverage that focuses on his lavish parties and his yacht, the Indian Empress.
Personal life
Mallya is originally from the town of Bantwal in Karnataka. He was educated at La Martiniere Boys' College, Calcutta in Kolkata[2] and completed his degree from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta under Calcutta University. Mallya is married twice. His first wife was Sameera and they have a son together, named Sidhartha Vijay Mallya. After separation with his first wife he got married to Rekha and has two daughters Leana and Tanya Mallya. Mallya has a home in Sausalito, California, USA.
Business
Breweries
Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group in 1983. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies with an annual turnover which has increased by 439% to US$1.2 billion in 1998-1999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure. He owned McDowell Crest, which took loans in crores of rupees from the general public.
In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for 595 million pounds (approximately Rs 4,819 crore).[3] In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as inertia industries ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named SANDPIPER and ZINGARO>
Airlines
In 2005, Vijay Mallya established Kingfisher Airlines. At present, the airline connects 32 cities. Mallya's Kingfisher airlines recently obtained 26% stake in Air Deccan, a low cost Indian airline. Mallya plans to pick up a personal, controlling stake in Epic Aircraft, a US-based aircraft manufacturing company. He recently flew into Oshkosh with his key team members and met Epic Aircraft CEO Rick Schrameck to sign this deal. Epic Aircraft is a manufacturer of private business jets (VLJ) with single and twin engines, capable of carrying six to seven people.[1]. This move helps Mallya to expand from operating aircraft to aircraft manufacture. In September 2007, Mallya became a new strategic partner for Epic Aircraft.
Association with sports
Formula 1
- Force India
Mallya co-owns F1 racing team Force India (earlier Spyker). Mallya and the Mol family from The Netherlands bought the Spyker F1 team for 88 million euros.[4] The team changed its name to Force India F1 from the 2008 Season.[5]
- Indian Grand Prix
Mallya also has shown interest to hold a Formula 1 race in India as the Indian Grand Prix. Greater Noida near New Delhi is the target, track designer Hermann Tilke,[6] F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone,[7] and Delhi CM Sheila Dixit. F1 track designer Hermann Tilke has designed a layout for a street-race like Monaco in New Delhi.[8] The plan is to have the first Indian F1 race in 2009-2010. Tilke has previously designed F1 tracks in Turkey, Shanghai, Bahrain and Malaysia.[9] The set-up cost of the race would be at least U$100 million.[10] This is considerably less compared to building a brand new track specifically for car racing. Tilke wants the cars to go around India Gate and down Rajendra Prasad Rd.[11]
Football
Mallya's United Breweries sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata.[12]
Recently linked with buying into the new revolution at Queens Park Rangers FC, as part of the Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal consortium.[13]
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. The Royal Challengers Bangalore team includes players like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Zaheer Khan, Mark Boucher,Sunil Joshi and Dale Steyn.
After the poor performance of his team in IPL, the liquor baron said he had some players in mind but Rahul Dravid and Charu Sharma completely ignored them and went ahead with their own plan to select the players.
Horse racing
Mallya also owns the company, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders (URBB) which has interests in horse racing. URBB runs the Kunigal stud farm, under lease from the Government of Karnataka.
Political career
Mallya entered politics in 2000 and replaced Subramanian Swamy as the president of the Janata Party, a breakaway faction of the original Janata Dal party. His party contested almost all of the 224 seats during the Karnataka State legislative election. He campaigned vigorously through the media, but his party failed to make any impact and did not win a single seat. Following the party's failure in the elections, it has been largely ignored by the media.
Achievements
- Establishment of Mallya Hospital in Bangalore. The hospital is located in Vittal Mallya road, named after his father.
- Helped to fund the Mallya Aditi International School, a prestigious private school in Bangalore.
- Successfully bid for the sword of Tipu Sultan at an auction in London in 2004, and brought it back to India.[14]
- Initiated the development of prized real estate UB city, in the heart of Bangalore. The project hosts corporate offices, retail and service appartments.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | |||
 | |||
| Coach: | Venkatesh Prasad[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain: | Rahul Dravid | ||
| Colors: | Red and Golden Yellow[2]  | ||
| Founded: | 2008 | ||
| Home Ground: | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium | ||
| Capacity: | 55,000 | ||
| Owner: | UB Group | ||
| CEO: | Brijesh Patel | ||
| Official Website: | Royal Challengers Bangalore | ||
Royal Challengers Bangalore (also referred to as RCB) is the team representing the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, through his flagship firm UB Group.[3] Brijesh Patel is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, is the CCO (Chief Cricketing Officer) of the management team.[4]
Franchise history
Indian Premier League is a cricket tournament being organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI - the governing body for cricket in India), and backed by the International Cricket Council.[5] For the inaugural tournament to be held in Apr-Jun 2008, the BCCI had finalised a list of 8 teams who will be participating in the tournament. The teams representing 8 different cities of India, including Bangalore, were put up on auction in Mumbai on 20 February 2008 and the Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries' bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team. Bollywood actresses Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone, and Sandalwood film stars Ramya and Upendra are the brand ambassadors of the team. [6]
2008 IPL Season
The team won only 4 matches in this season, losing 10 matches and managed to secure only the last but one position in the points table. Only one of their batsman, Rahul Dravid managed to score more than 300 runs in the tournament and they had to even bench their costliest foreign player, Jacques Kallis for few of the matches due to his poor form.[7][8] The string of failures mid-way through the season led to the sacking of the CEO, Charu Sharma who was replaced with Brijesh Patel.[9] Even coach Venkatesh Prasad was about to be sacked, but he saved his job by publicly apologising for the team's failure. Vijay Mallya went on to publicly criticise Dravid and Sharma for the failures by saying that they had not selected the right team. He regretted that he had made a mistake by not getting involved in the selection of the team.[9] They were the only team in the IPL to try out 11 opening combinations in 14 games.
