Tata Tea to bring Tetley brands to India

As per the terms of agreement signed between Tetley and Tata Tea, Tata Tea great Britain Plc would make an offer for acquiring the entire shareholding of the Tetley group, Kumar said.

The takeover includes the private label tea business in the US but excludes its coffee business there, which was recently sold by the existing shareholders separately.

Kumar said the company was in the process of tying up necessary finance for the acquisition and added that a meeting of top officials of both Tata Tea and Tetley would be held in Calcutta next week to work out the initial strategy.

"To begin, a meeting with top Tetley officials would be held next week to work out the initial strategy and our resolve is to work together without any dilution of the strategic intent we have signed," he said.

Tetely chief executive Ken Pringle and other senior officials of the company are currently in the country. Kumar said Tata’s decision to acquire Tetley would augur well for the domestic tea industry as it would push up exports and market for value-added products.

With the takeover of Tetley by Tata’s, the requirement of tea by the latter for its branded products are likely to be sourced from India. Tetley had a market share of 22 per cent in UK, followed closely by the Unilever brand, while in US it was number two in the market with a 14 per cent share. In Canada with a wider portfolio it was ahead of others with a 37 per cent share.

While the present senior management of Tetley at UK would continue to hold their positions at the board of directors level there would be induction from Tatas and names are likely to be finalised at the Calcutta meeting, which will also lay down an agenda for the new entity under the Tata stable, company sources said.