LOCH Lomond Distillers is on the verge of changing hands in a management buyout backed by a Chinese private equity giant.

The buyout, which reportedly values the company at between $300 million and $400m, is led by chief executive Colin Matthews and financed by Hillhouse Capital, which has investments in tech giant Tencent and Airbnb.

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The deal comes five years after Mr Matthews, a former boss of Imperial Tobacco, staged a management buy-in with private equity group Exponent to acquire the distiller from the Bulloch family. That deal valued the company, which owns the Loch Lomond and Glen Scotia whiskies and Glen’s vodka, at £210m.

Since then significant investment has been made to ramp up Loch Lomond's distilling, maturation and bottling capacity, and to revitalise and market its brands. The most recent results for Loch Lomond show that it turned over £52.9m in the year ended September 30, up from £50.5m, with its brands sold in around 120 international markets.

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It is thought the Hillhouse deal will give Loch Lomond the firepower to expand in crucial growth markets in Asia.