Vijay Mallya in Mumbai on Tuesday. (PTI)

Mumbai, June 14: Vijay Mallya wants to take United Breweries (UB) to the top spot in world spirit sweepstakes. And, he thinks he can pull off the feat in five years.

“We have to target the number one position. It will certainly not take 20 years. Hopefully, we can do it in five,” he added. On his radar are spirits companies in China and a few brands in the developed markets of the West.

The big question is ? where will the growth come from? The developed markets are hardly growing. The rate of sales increase is, at most, in single digits. Mallya is aware of this. The UB group practically has no presence outside India, except for a toehold in South Africa.

“Pernod Ricard has plans to acquire Allied Domecq. If it happens, a few of Domecq’s brands would be on the block,” Mallya said. The UB group's spirits business has been notching double-digit growth rates in India. After the acquisition of Shaw Wallace & Co, its one-time principal rival, the firm has a portfolio of 140 spirit brands.

Mallya is betting on past instances when big spirits companies acquired rivals. In such situations, some brands of the company that is being snapped up are put up for sale. This is seen as an effective way to reduce costs of acquisition.

Mallya knows this will happen because already he has several offers for Shaw Wallace brands from foreign and local firms. Estimates put the savings arising out of synergies after the Wallace merger in the region of Rs 100 crore.

By being the second biggest spirits company in terms of the cases sold, the company has become more confident on competing with the world’s best in the spirits market.