MAM
Unilever to sell its global tea biz to CVC Capital for $5.1 billion
Mumbai: Unilever PLC has agreed to sell its global tea business to CVC Capital Partners for $5.1 billion, concluding a process of reviewing and spinning off the division that took more than two years. The business being sold, called Ekaterra, hosts a portfolio of 34 tea brands including Lipton, PG Tips, Pukka Herbs, and Tazo, and generated revenues of two billion euros in 2020.
The sale, however, excludes Unilever’s tea units in India and Indonesia and its partnerships in the ready-to-drink tea market, such as its bottled tea joint venture with PepsiCo.
CVC reached an agreement with the British multinational consumer goods giant after beating out rival private equity bidders including Advent International. Ekaterra will be sold to CVC’s Capital Fund VIII on a cash-free and debt-free basis in a process that is expected to conclude in the second half of 2022, Unilever said in a statement on Thursday.
The company said in January 2020 that it was starting a strategic review of its tea business that could result in a partial or full sale. The transaction marks a much-needed win for Unilever’s chief executive officer Alan Jope, who’s been seeking to rejig the company’s portfolio to keep up with changing consumer tastes.
“The evolution of our portfolio into higher growth spaces is an important part of our growth strategy. Our decision to sell ekaterra demonstrates further progress in delivering against our plans,” Jope said.
The sale relieves Unilever of a business that has been a drag on earnings for several years as demand for black tea waned and consumer tastes changed in recent years amid a shift to green tea and other flavourful herbal alternatives.
The global consumer goods major has been under some pressure as its stock languishes and it struggles to compete in the face of high inflationary costs, especially in emerging markets, its biggest source of revenue.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
