JOIN USLeading liquor firm United Spirits has appointed former Diageo Plc Chief Executive Paul Steven Walsh as additional director of the company with effect from August 19. The decision was taken at a meeting of the company’s board of directors held on Monday.
Walsh will serve as a nominee of Relay BV on the United Spirits board.
Walsh was chief executive of Diageo Plc from 2000 to June 30 this year, and was CEO of Pillsbury in 1992. He has also served with Intercontinental Hotels and GrandMet. He is presently serving as advisor to Diageo Chairman Franz Humer and Chief Executive Ivan Menezes, and is a non-executive director on the boards of Unilever Plc and Fedex, among others.
Diageo, the world’s largest spirits maker, had last month acquired 25.02 per cent stake in United Spirits from Vijay Mallya-led UB Group in a share purchase deal worth Rs 5,235.85 crore. This was well below Diageo’s plans announced last year to pick up 53.4 per cent stake in USL for a total of Rs 11,166.5 crore.
Vikram Singh Mehta, economist and formerly with Shell International, has also been inducted as additional director on the board in the capacity of an independent director with effect from August 19, the company said.
The United Spirits share closed at Rs 2,182.90 apiece on the BSE on Monday, down 2.07 per cent from its previous close.