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The UB Group was founded by a Scotsman, Thomas Leishman, in 1915, when he brought together Castle Brewery and Nilgiris Breweries , Bangalore Brewing Co. , British Brewing Corp. and BBB Brewery Co. Ltd. . The Group took its initial lessons in manufacturing beer from South India based British Breweries.
At the age of 22, Vittal Mallya was elected as the company's first Indian director in 1947. After a year, he replaced R. G. N. Price as the chairman of the company.
United Breweries made its initial impact by manufacturing bulk beer for the British troops before independence, which was transported in huge barrels or "Hogsheads". Kingfisher, the group's most visible and profitable brand, made a modest entry in the sixties. During the 1950s and 60s, the company expanded greatly by acquiring other breweries. First was the addition of McDowell as one of the Group subsidiaries, a move which helped United Breweries to extend its portfolio to wines and spirits business. Strategically, the Group moved into agro-based industries and medicines when Mallya acquired Kissan Products and formed a long-term relationship with Hoechst AG of Germany to create the Indian pharmaceutical company now known as Aventis Pharma, the Indian subsidiary of the global pharma major Sanofi-Aventis.
UB Group has had some relationship with United Spirits Limited, which is now majority-owned by Diageo.
The conglomerate was headed by Vijay Mallya, who left India on 2 March 2016, allegedly to escape legal action by Indian banks to whom he owed an estimated ?9,000 crore in loans. In June 2021, Heineken N.V. bought out Mallya's 15% stake in United Breweries Limited for ?5,825 crore from the Debt Recovery Tribunal. With this, Heineken's stake in the company increased to 61.5%.
