Tata tea to acquire Himalayan stakes

Mumbai, June 1 (UNI) Tata tea Ltd announced here today that the company has decided to acqire management control of Mount Everest Mineral Water Company(MEMW), owners of the Himalayan brand of bottled water.

The company said with a total quantum investment of Rs 210 crore, initially it would buy a 10.8 per cent stake from promoters and subscribe to preferential offer of shares of 15 per cent of the capital of MEMW. It has also decided to make an open offer to buy additional 20 percent more stake of MEMW at 140 rupees per share.

The Tata Tea MD Percy Siganporia said, ''There is tremendous growth potential in the global market for value-added water. The aquisition of Himalayan will enable us to tap these opportunities effectively while building a global presence in this vertical.'' Tata Tea said its net profit for the March quarter fell sharply to 38.9 million rupees from a year earlier. While the operating profit for the FY07 was 14 per cent up at Rs 168 crore and income from operations was up by 9 per cent at Rs 1070 crore, during the year.

Tata Tea, has recently announced the conditional sale of its holdings, through the Tetly group, in Energy Brands to Coca Cola company for an ammount of USD 1.2 billion acquisition price of USD 677 million. The company said that the cash prceeds would be largely utilized in repayment of existing debt and continued investments in growth across the globe.

UNI