Vijay Mallaya owned United Spirits Ltd (USL) is all set to strike a strategic deal with Diageo, producer of leading brands Johnnie Walker whiskies and Smirnoff Vodka, in days to come, paving a way for representation in USL board by Diageo.

Diageo may pick up a minority stake of 14.9% in Mallya's United Spirits (USL) that controls about 55% of the spirits market in India. USL group that owns large reserves of treasury stocks may offload these stock reserves in order to arrange funds for its growing capital needs.

The negotiations are in final stage and final outcome is likely to be announced after the meeting of UB group officials and Diageo officials in New York on Wednesday, according to a top executive of company. The amount of deal has not been disclosed as of now. However, Vijay Mallaya has said, "I can assure you that I don't do cheap deals."

Mallya further said, "I have had serious expressions of interest from multiple strategic investors when the stock was trading at Rs1,800. The company is very strong; USL has increased its sales volumes by 10 million or 1crore cases in the 9months of this fiscal year."

The UB Group posted a net profit of Rs 311 crore and total revenue of Rs 3,200 crore in 2007-08.