Tata Group is considering a proposal to merge its food and beverage businesses into a single company. The country’s biggest conglomerate is considering separating the salt and branded lentils businesses of Tata Chemicals Ltd. and merging them with Tata Global Beverages Ltd.
The group is considering separating the salt and branded lentils businesses of Tata Chemicals Ltd. and folding them into Tata Global Beverages Ltd., according to the people who asked not to be named because the information is private.
It’s also weighing merging Tata Coffee Ltd., which owns coffee plantations and tea gardens, with the beverages company, and entering dairy, they said.
The proposal is part of Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran’s larger strategy to combine related businesses under a single umbrella to increase efficiency and simplify the conglomerate, which includes more than 100 independent operating companies. In April, the Tata group said it will create a single entity called Tata Aerospace & Defence by merging all allied businesses.
“While shareholders will get a small piece of a larger universe that is less exposed to volatility, the company would get a management with sharper focus,” said Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kejriwal Research & Investment Services Pvt. in Mumbai. “The rationale behind folding food and beverage businesses into a single company is nothing but de-risking.”
Tata Global Beverages, one of the biggest branded tea sellers in the world, could be renamed to reflect the broader focus on the foods business, the people said. The company sells tea under brands including Tetley and Tata Tea, coffee under Eight O’Clock and bottled water under Himalayan.