CVC agreed to sell the troubled Kenyan tea estates it purchased from Unilever less than three years ago to Browns Group, reports the
Financial Times (7 May, Speed), making the Sri Lankan conglomerate the world’s largest tea exporter. The private equity group’s tea business, Lipton Teas and Infusions, announced on Wednesday it was offloading its plantations in East Africa, including the Kericho plantation in Kenya, which has a history of violence and sexual abuse. Browns is owned by Sri Lankan holding company LOLC Holdings, whose portfolio spans cars, pharmaceuticals, mining, agriculture, and financial services. The group owns tea, pepper, and rubber plantations in Sri Lanka, and purchased its first Kenyan tea estates business last year from Scottish group Finlays. CVC acquired the three plantations in Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania in 2021 as part of its purchase of Unilever’s tea business for €4.5 billion. The sale to Browns relieves CVC of a string of issues associated with owning the plantation. Last month, it was reported that a consortium of co-operatives in Kenya claimed it was ignored after expressing an interest in buying the estates, arguing that a sale to the local community would restore the land to descendants of clans who had been evicted in the early 20th century. Lipton said on Wednesday it would offer shares totaling 15 percent of the Kenyan operating company to the local communities, “to create accessible communal equity and mutually aligned economic participation."
From "CVC Agrees to Sale of Troubled African Tea Estates Business"
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