The Hindu Business Line : Ratan Tata to be Chairman of Energy Brands Inc

Spreading out
Mr Krishna Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Tata Tea, will also be on the board.
As per the agreement, the Tatas will have the option to buy another 10 pc stake in the company.
The company's product line includes smartwater, vitamin water and fruitwater.

Mumbai , Sept. 1

Mr Ratan Tata will take over as Chairman of the US-based Energy Brands Inc in which the Tatas have picked up a 30 per cent stake for $677 million last week. Besides Mr Tata, Mr Krishna Kumar, Vice-Chairman, Tata Tea, would also be on the board.

As per the shareholder agreement signed between the Tatas and the US company, the makers of Glaceau brands of wellness beverages, Tatas will have the option to buy another 10 per cent stake in the company.

`Experience & reputation'

The company's product line includes smartwater, vitamin water and fruitwater. The founder of Energy Inc, Mr J. Darius Bikoff, holds 60 per cent stake in the company. Mr Bikoff, who is currently visiting India, said he chose Tatas as partners not because of the money they offered but the experience and the reputation they have as a diversified industrial group.

"As we grow globally, we will look at the assets, which Tata Tea has across the world. I like their Tetley, Eight O'Clock and Good Earth brands and we will look at opportunities with these brands," he said

Betting on the power of the Tata Tea's brands, there are possibilities of co-branding initiatives in the future to ride on the popularity of these brands, especially in the new markets waiting to be explored by Energy Brands.

The water enhancement company is also planning to bring in its own brand Glaceau to India and the UK, Tata Tea's biggest markets.

"India is an explosive market and at some point of time we will enter this market. There are signs that consumers in this market are willing to take a quantum leap forward in consuming such products," Mr Bikoff said.

But, for now Energy Brands will continue on consolidating its operations in the US market. "At the moment our mandate is to satisfy the demand for our products in the United States, but in the course of evolutionary process we will look at opportunity in new markets," he added.

Registering a 200 per cent CAGR, Energy Brands has three products under the Glaceau brand.

Competing with the carbonated brands and the bottled water brands in the United States, Energy Brands has created a new category of `enhanced water' in the US market.

"There have been attempts by Coke and Pepsi to copy our products but so far all their attempts have failed," claimed Mr Bikoff.

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