Thaindian News

Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) World’s largest tea producer, McLeod Russel India Limited will be investing $2 million this fiscal in Uganda to upgrade its factories and $4 million in Rwanda to enhance capacity in the next two years, a top executive of the company said Monday.

“In Africa we have already invested to upgrade our factories and we will be investing $2 million in Uganda. We will be investing another $4 million in Rwanda in the next two years,” McLeod Russel managing director Aditya Khaitan told reporters here.

“Our investment in Uganda last year has paid significantly this year. Uganda has been one of the strong contributors as profit from it was $6.4 million last fiscal. We invested about $5 million to upgrade two factories which did not have the capacity to cater to the extra crop,” he said, adding the upgradation will be completed by early June.

Once these two factories’ upgradation was over, then the third factory will be upgraded, Khaitan said.

“It will take another six two eight months. Once these three factories are upgraded, we will be able to enhance the quality of leaves and quality of tea,” he added.

Borelli Tea Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has provisionally taken over management control of Gisovu Tea Company in Rwanda after the central African country’s government decided to sell 60 percent shares of Gisovu to Borelli.

“In Gisovu, the investment has been $4.2 million. We have decided to invest about another $4 million in the next two years to enhance the capacity. This year we will be looking at investing at least $2 million,” Khaitan said.

At present Gisovu was producing 1.7 million kg, he said, adding they intended to enhance it to 2 million kg.

In 2005, McLeod Russel acquired Williamson Tea Assam from the London-based Magor family, which founded a partnership firm, Williamson Magor in India in 1869.

Two years later, it acquired Doomdooma Tea Co from Hindustan Unilever and Britain’s Moran Holdings of Britain in 2007.

The company has also acquired a Vietnamese tea company, Phu Ben, through its wholly-owned unit in Britain, Borelli Tea Holdings.