article: The producer of one of the UK's most popular lagers, his business had grown too fast and over-extended itself. It was making a loss, and had built up substantial debts which it was struggling to service. While this situation may have been rectifiable in benign economic conditions, the global financial crisis that exploded in 2008 meant that Cobra had to put itself up for sale in November of that year. "We had lots of debt and we didn't see the crisis coming," says Lord Bilimoria, speaking at Cobra's headquarters in London. At the time the company had been growing by an average 40% every year since it was set up in 1989. All potential profits had been invested back into continuing to grow the company, so its cash reserves were running very low at a time when Lord Bilimoria says "cash didn't just become king - it became emperor". He adds: "What I could have done - should have done, with hindsight - is proven the profitability [of the business] for two or three years, and slowed down the growth. But at that stage... the mindset when you are growing at 40% is that you are on a roll." Cobra was saved in May 2009 when, under a so-called "pre-pack administration" deal - a pre-arranged agreement that saw the firm go quickly in and out of administration - Lord Bilimoria bought the business back in a joint venture with North American brewing giant Molson Coors. The deal wiped out Cobra's debts, leaving creditors Â£71m out of pocket. However, Lord Bilimoria, who is Cobra's chairman, says he is paying back every single person, despite having no legal requirement to do so. "It is my belief that if you go through a tough time it is not just what you do, but how you do it," he says. Born in India in 1961, Karan Bilimoria is the son of a general in the Indian army. His father, Faridoon Bilimoria, commanded a regiment of Gurkhas when India fought on the side of Bangladesh in its eastern neighbour's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. By the time the late Lt Gen Bilimoria retired, he was commander-in-chief of the central Indian army, with 350,000 men under his command. It was as a teenager that Lord Bilimoria decided to go into business instead of joining the army like his father. "I decided that the army for me would have been too constraining. And if I had followed in my father's footsteps I was worried that I would always be compared to him, and be in his shadow," he says. "Also I wanted more blue sky, and a career in business offered me a much broader opportunity." After gaining a degree in commerce at the University of Hyderabad, Lord Bilimoria moved to London, where he qualified as a chartered accountant. He then completed a law degree at Cambridge University in the late 1980s, which was when he came up with the idea for Cobra. A lover of beer since his teenage years, Lord Bilimoria was unhappy with the quality
summary: Lord Bilimoria speaks openly and honestly about the difficulties his company Cobra Beer faced back in 2008.