A hoarding announcing Vijay Mallya?s visit to Wallace House. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Sept. 20: In 1985, Vijay Mallya and a little known Dubai-based trader-turned-industrialist Manu Chhabria launched one of the most celebrated takeovers in Indian corporate history.

Twenty years on and after innumerous twists and turns in an equally celebrated corporate battle between the friends turned foes, Vijay Mallya will stride into a building he had set his eyes on so many years ago: Wallace House.

?I am delighted. It is a dream come true for me after 20 years,? Mallya told The Telegraph.

Mallya will preside over Wednesday?s annual general meeting of Shaw Wallace & Co (SWC) ? a moment of sweet satisfaction for the liquor baron who has stalked the company ever since he and Chhabria mounted their audacious attempt to dislodge a clutch of professionals led by S.P. Acharya and, thereby, shook the foundations of the liquor maker that was steeped till then in British lore and tradition.

It could be the first time that Mallya ? who wears his sobriquet as the the King of Good Times with great flamboyance ? will be walking into Wallace House.

Back in the mid-eighties when he and Chhabria got together to wage the battle for Shaw Wallace, Mallya had to lurk in the shadows because of the strict currency regulations that existed then, which prevented him from openly admitting that he had stumped up the cash to finance the bid.

Chhabria, the non-resident Indian, snagged the company and left Mallya at a loose end, precipitating the bitter decades-old war between them. The battle finally ended earlier this year when Mallya bought out the company from Chhabria?s widow and daughters and reclaimed what he had always regarded as his own.

After the annual general meeting, Mallya will hold a media briefing at Wallace House.

The city is already decked up for the big event. Billboards have cropped up all over the city and at Wallace House itself welcoming Mallya to Calcutta ? a city where he spent his childhood, attended school and college before leaving for Bangalore to pick up the reins of UB after his father Vittal Mallya?s untimely death in 1983. He was only 28 then.

Mallya had tried several times in the past to get his foot in through the Wallace House door. In 1999, he had offered Rs 250 crore to buy out three Shaw Wallace brands ? Royal Challenge, Director?s Special and Haywards. But he eventually ended up forking out Rs 1,545 crore for the entire company.

Wallace House which was built in 1911 ? the year India?s capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi ? will hold a special place in Mallya?s heart for another reason: the property once belonged to Tipu Sultan?s family.

Mallya has great admiration for Tipu Sultan because of the tenacity with which he fought Robert Clive and the British army, which in some small way foreshadowed his own dogged battle against the pucca sahibs at Wallace House. That is the reason why Mallya recently bought Tipu Sultan?s famous sword at a British auction where he shelled out Rs 1.5 crore.

Mallya?s triumphant entry into Wallace House tomorrow has another significant date with history: it was on September 21, 1909 that the foundation stone for the present building was laid.

To commemorate the event, the liquor division of Shaw Wallace is hoping to come out with a top-of-the-line offering called ?Wallace House Whiskey?.

A.K.M.A. Shamsuddin, the head of SWC?s liquor division who has spent four decades in the company, said: ?I am yet to break the news to Dr Mallya. I had wished to have it ready for the event. But we hope to bring out this special label soon.?

Shamsuddin has had the rare opportunity to work with four different managements having started his career in SWC in 1967 when the British sahibs called the shots.

?SWC was held in high esteem in the UK. All the retiring chairmen, including the last British burrasahib Anthony Hayward, were knighted,? he said. He claimed that the relations between the Indians and sahibs were very cordial in the 1960s and most of the 1970s and they picked and backed the right people.

S. Pandurang Acharya who took over from Hayward in 1978 ? all foreigners had left SWC by then ? continued with the hoary tradition till Chhabria assumed full control in 1987. A very different style of management was introduced once Chhabria took control. ?It was more risk taking and ambitious,? recalled Shamsuddin.

Wallace House finally has a new owner who has style, panache and a burning desire to create the world?s largest liquor company. UB is already the second largest today in terms of volumes.