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Eveready to sell more tea estates

Our Bureau

CALCUTTA, Dec. 7

EVEREADY Industries India Ltd has decided on the second instalment of tea garden sale. The estates to be sold are Matelli and Jainti, both in Dooars in north Bengal. Eveready has informed stock exchanges of its decision.

The consideration is Rs 19.5 crore for Matelli and Rs 13.5 crore for Jainti. The buyers are Deeplok Plantations Ltd for the former and RSM Tea Co Ltd for the latter. Both are newly floated companies for the purpose of acquisition.

The promoters are the city-based Bachawats whose outfit, the Eastern Tea Co Ltd, has one estate -- Kalabari -- in Dooars. Their other business interests include sharebroking and deploying funds for the inter-corporate deposit market. Kalabari was acquire d by them two years ago from the T.P. Roy family of Jalpaiguri, which means they are recent entrants in the tea industry.

Matelli has an output in excess of 1.5 million kg, while Jainti commands an output of around 9,00,000 kg. Together, the consideration works out to less than Rs 135 per kg.

Mr Rajendra Kumar Bachawat, Director of Eastern Tea, said that hopefully they would be able to take possession of the properties latest by the second week of January. They would be financing the acquisitions to the extent of about 50 per cent from intern al resources. For the balance, they had opened negotiations with banks.

After the board decided on November 10 to sell some tea estates in a bid to retire a part of the debt and thereby bring down the interest burden, Eveready has so far announced deals for five estates -- three in Darjeeling for a little less Rs 10 crore an d two in Dooars for Rs 33 crore. Indications are that the deals for a few more gardens are likely to be announced in the next 10-12 days.