McLeod Russel India Ltd. (MRIL) is planning to sell at least three more tea estates in West Bengal’s Dooars and in Assam by September 2019.
In a bid to pare its debt , the company has been on a selling spree since mid- 2018, months after it set up a committee in May to identify the assets which could be put on the block.
“We may sell a garden in Dooars and at least two in Assam,” a source said on the condition of anonymity.
MRIL, once the largest producer of bulk teas in India, sourced its output through a mix of its own estates as also through the bought leaf factories and its step down subsidiaries overseas. However for over an year now, the company leadership felt that its needed to reduce its exposure to the estates due to their high cost. Accordingly, it has sold these estates to companies like Goodricke, Luxmi Tea and to other companies.
The company’s debt stood at around ₹1,000 crore at end June 2019 and has also suffered rating downgrades. According to its website, it now has 49 tea estates, of which 31 are in Assam.
Its statutory auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells resigned last month after passing adverse comments on the results and loans to group companies. MRIL posted a ₹411-crore loss in 2018-19 after a ₹67-crore profit in the previous year. “The company is suffering due to the cyclical nature of the tea industry and the poor performance of a group company,” a source said.
The city-based heritage tea company of the B. M. Khaitan Group now has just two estates in West Bengal. The group’s tea journey began in 18969 when two Englishmen formed a company
