Heineken’s United Breweries (UBL) has appointed Vivek Gupta to lead the company as its new CEO and managing director, replacing Rishi Pardal, who resigned as UBL’s CEO in February.

The appointment, revealed in a stock exchange filing, will see Gupta take on the position from 25th September for a period of five years.

Besides driving sustainable growth for the company with the UBL leadership team, one of Gupta’s primary roles within the company will be to regain ground for the Kingfisher beer brand and re-assert its premium position within the beer sector. He will also spearhead the premiumisation of UBL’s portfolio.

Gupta was quoted in the press release as saying, “I am honoured to be given the responsibility of one of India’s most iconic brands, Kingfisher beer, and the world’s most international brand, Heineken.”

Jacco van der Linden, regional president of APAC for Heineken and member of the UBL board, said: “We are thrilled to have Vivek lead UBL at such a critical time. We recognise his resilience in building businesses and brands at a fast pace and in a complex environment.”

Before joining UBL, Gupta worked as chief business officer for India’s largest business-to-business e-commerce platform Udaan.com.

Before that, he was attached to Procter & Gamble for two decades, where he held various sales leadership roles and was managing director for Australia and New Zealand for two years.

Heineken has been integrating UBL into its business since its acquisition of the company in July 2021.