Vijay Mallya, may now lose his Kingfisher brand. Lenders have started the process of selling brands associated with the groundedKingfisher Airlines (KFA). And the ones up for grab include 'Kingfisher', 'fly the good times' and 'flying models'.
The sale will not directly impact Mallya's flagship beer brand by the same name. That's because the airline and the beer brands are registered under different categories. However, Dutch giant Heineken, which is the largest shareholder in United Breweries, makers of Kingfisher beer, has reportedly expressed concern about the sale of the surrogate 'Kingfisher' (airline) brand.
The sale of Kingfisher brands was initiated by SBICAP Trustee Co Ltd (STCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets Ltd.
Kingfisher Airlines, which has not flown since October 2012 and whose licence has been suspended, owes Rs 8,000 crore to banks. With no sign of the airline repaying this huge amount, banks had earlier started the process of selling pledged properties and now is eyeing Kingfisher brand that some years ago was valued at Rs 3,000 crore.
"PSU banks need to answer why they kept pumping money into KFA when the writing on the wall was clear. They have played with public money and wasted it. Their lending to KFA's sinking ship must be probed," said an ex-employee of KFA.
The KFA spokesman refused to comment on the latest trouble facing the group as 'Kingfisher' is its flagship beer brand. When Mallya launched an airline with the same name in 2005, other carriers at that time had alleged that the move was nothing but surrogate advertising for the beer brand.
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