Bilimoria plans a foray into his native India and birthplace
NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria plans a foray into India, setting up a brewery in Hyderabad, his birthplace.
By PTI |
LONDON: NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria plans a foray into India, setting up a brewery in Hyderabad, his birthplace.
One of the new entries in the Sunday Times Rich List, 2008, published today, 46-year-old Bilimoria who is worth 68 million pounds, wants to turn Cobra beer, founded by him into one of the top ten lagers in Britain.
The son of an army general, Bilimoria left the subcontinent aged 19 to train as a chartered accountant, followed by law at Cambridge.
He got the idea of selling Indian beer into Britain's burgeoning Indian restaurant trade but found none, so created his own, launching it during the 1990 recession.
The business was run initially from his London house and grew by word of mouth.
Cobra is now brewed by the independent Charles Wells brewery. In 2006 Cobra raised 27.5 million pounds to accelerate growth, resulting in a flotation being mothballed until last year.
An ambitious 14 million pounds advertising campaign, to start this summer, will aim to turn the beer into one of the top 10 lagers in Britain, the Rich list said.
Bilimoria has been offered between 150 million pounds and 200 million pounds for Cobra, but a 120 million pounds valuation is more sober, it said.
"He has a substantial stake in the business, while property and other assets take him to 68 million pounds," the report said.
One of the new entries in the Sunday Times Rich List, 2008, published today, 46-year-old Bilimoria who is worth 68 million pounds, wants to turn Cobra beer, founded by him into one of the top ten lagers in Britain.
The son of an army general, Bilimoria left the subcontinent aged 19 to train as a chartered accountant, followed by law at Cambridge.
He got the idea of selling Indian beer into Britain's burgeoning Indian restaurant trade but found none, so created his own, launching it during the 1990 recession.
The business was run initially from his London house and grew by word of mouth.
Cobra is now brewed by the independent Charles Wells brewery. In 2006 Cobra raised 27.5 million pounds to accelerate growth, resulting in a flotation being mothballed until last year.
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An ambitious 14 million pounds advertising campaign, to start this summer, will aim to turn the beer into one of the top 10 lagers in Britain, the Rich list said.
Bilimoria has been offered between 150 million pounds and 200 million pounds for Cobra, but a 120 million pounds valuation is more sober, it said.
"He has a substantial stake in the business, while property and other assets take him to 68 million pounds," the report said.
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