Kolkata-based tea plantation company Mcleod Russel India Ltd is planning to buy a Vietnamese tea processing unit for a little over $2.75 million (Rs 15 crore), as per a stock market disclosure.
Phu Ben Tea Company, a step-down wholly owned subsidiary of Mcleod Russel India, is acquiring the factory which has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million kgs.
This is the first acquisition by Mcleod Russel in over three years. The firm was active in expanding through inorganic route between 2006 and 2009. In late 2008 it had acquired Phu Ben Tea Company in Vietnam in a Rs 10-crore deal.
It has also acquired stakes in overseas companies such as James Finlay (Uganda) Ltd and Olyana Holdings LLC besides Indian firms such as Williamson Tea Assam Ltd, Doom Dooma Tea Co Ltd and Moran Tea Company India Ltd.
Founded in 1869, The Brij Mohan Khaitan group-led Mcleod Russel is one of the largest tea producers in the world. It has plants in Assam and West Bengal besides those in Vietnam, Uganda and Rwanda.
The firm employs over 90,000 people and has recently built a blending facility at Nilpur (West Bengal) to provide bespoke blending services to its customers. The Nilpur plant has a capacity to blend 40 tonnes of tea per day.
