Kolkata-based tea plantation company Mcleod Russel India Ltd has agreed to acquire a tea processing unit in Vietnam for around $2.09 million (approximately Rs 12 crore), the company said in a stock market disclosure.
The deal is routed through its step down unit Phu Ben Tea Company Limited to buy Ngoc Hai Company Limited’s factory in Doan Hung District, Phu Tho Province, Vietnam. The unit has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million kgs.
This is the second acquisition by the company in Vietnam this year. Earlier in March, it acquired a tea processing unit, which had annual production of 0.6 million kg of green tea, in Vietnam for a little over Rs 5 crore.
Last year also, it had acquired a Vietnamese tea processing unit for a little over $2.75 million (Rs 15 crore) which has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million kgs.
Previously, Mcleod Russel had acquired Phu Ben Tea Company in Vietnam in a Rs 10-crore deal in late 2008.
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, Brij Mohan Khaitan group firm 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 offices in the UK and Dubai besides India.
It ended FY14 with revenues of Rs 1,788.7 crore with net profit of Rs 257.1 crore.
On Wednesday, shares of the company closed at Rs 301.30 a unit, up 1.52 per cent on BSE in a flat Mumbai market.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)