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Tata Tea, the second largest tea company in the world, is close to acquiring a beverage company in Europe for $300 million, reports Business Standard. The target has not been named. The company has been trying to increase its presence in eastern Europe through acquisitions for a year now. The group last year bought the assets of a Czech-based tea company Jemca from Alima Znackov Potravina, a food processing company, for £12.4 million, and the trademarks of Vitax and Flosana this year from Premium Foods in Poland for £4.7 million.
Tata Tea has been aggressive on the acquisition front. The company had last year acquired a 25 per cent stake in Galceau for $677 million, which was later sold to Coca-Cola in a $4.1 billion deal. Its other acquisitions include Eight O' Clock Coffee Company (EOC) from Gryphon Investors for $220 million and Joekels of South Africa for £0.9 million. Tata Tea's first large acquisition was UK's Tetley for £270 million in 1999.