Drink giant Diageo has reportedly been given the nod by regulators to acquire a further 26% of India’s United Spirits.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared the deal, according to the country’s media.
Diageo, whose Scotch whisky brands include global market leader Johnnie Walker, Bell’s, Buchanan’s and J&B, already owned 28.8% of United.
The UK firm launched a £1.1billion-plus bid to nearly double its stake in its Asian rival last month.
Diageo, which also makes Guinness and Smirnoff vodka, took control of United from United Breweries Holdings in a £1.3billion deal last year.
The business was previously controlled by entrepreneur Vijay Mallya, who has shed assets under debt and the collapse of his aviation business, Kingfisher Airlines.
Earlier this month, it was announced that United-owned whisky brand Whyte and Mackay (W&M) was to come under Filipino ownership in a £430million takeover.
United said its board had agreed the sale to Emperador, the distillery arm of conglomerate Alliance Global.
It resolved UK competition concerns which arose after Diageo acquired a controlling stake in W&M’s Indian parent.
The UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had previously said retailers feared price rises for blended whisky in Britain as a result of the Diageo-United tie-up.
Diageo’s Bell’s brand is a market rival for W&M’s own-label and branded whisky, and the OFT said there could be “a substantial lessening” in competition.
Glasgow-based W&M owns malt whisky distilleries at Dalmore, near Inverness, at Fettercairn in Aberdeenshire, on Jura, at Tamnavulin on Speyside and a bottling plant at Grangemouth as well as a grain operation at Invergordon.
United acquired the business seven years ago from its former chief executive, Vivian Imerman, for £595million.