Bisleri: Tata to Bisleri Tata, the whole deal stuck on this point

The country’s leading conglomerate Juth Tata Group has finally put on hold its plans to buy renowned packaged water company Bisleri. Tata Consumer Products has made an official announcement in this regard. According to the Tata Group, it has called off talks for a possible acquisition of Bisleri. Had the deal gone through, the Tata group would have become the leader in packaged water in one fell swoop.

Earlier it was reported that talks are going on between Bisleri International and Tata Group and the deal is worth Rs 500 crore. 6,000 to 7,000 crores. But recent media reports say that the talks between the two sides have stalled over valuation. A Bloomberg report quoted sources as saying that the owners of Bisleri were demanding $1 billion for the deal.

Tata Consumer Products informed the stock exchanges that it has ended talks with Bisleri for a possible transaction. The company has not entered into any agreement or binding commitment in this regard. Tata Consumer Products owns the Himalayan Natural Mineral Water and Tata Water Plus brands. Buying Bisleri would have strengthened its portfolio of packaged water brands. The company is rapidly expanding its business in FMCG and aims to be among the top three in this segment. On the other hand, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is also aggressively expanding its business in the FMCG sector.

What did Ramesh Chauhan say?

Buying Bisleri would have made Tata the leader in the packaged drinking water segment. According to media reports, Reliance Retail, Nestle and Danone have also shown interest. Bisleri’s talks with Tata were going on for two years. In November, Bisleri chairman Ramesh Chauhan said that he had made up his mind to sell his company to Tata. He said this after meeting Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tata Consumer CEO Sunil D’Souza.

Chouhan has entrusted the day-to-day operations of the company to a professional team. Angelo George is the CEO of the company. The company expects a turnover of Rs 2,500 crore and a profit of Rs 220 crore in FY2023. Bisleri was established as an Italian brand. The company started business in India in 1965. Chauhan bought it in 1969. The company has 122 operational plants. It has 4,500 distributors and around 5,000 trucks in India and neighboring countries. Chauhan sold his soft drink brands Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca to Coca-Cola in 1993.