McLeod Russel has been growing tea in India since 1869. We are today the largest tea producing company in the world. We manage 47 tea estates in the Assam Valley, 6 tea estates in the Dooars region of West Bengal, 3 factories in Vietnam and 6 estates in Uganda and we have management control of the world renowned Gisovu estate in Rwanda. Every year our estates produce approximately 100 million kilograms of black tea, which is marketed worldwide under the registered Elephant trademark.
Our story begins in 1869, when Captain J.H. Williamson and Richard Boycott Magor, two Englishmen based in Calcutta, formed a partnership firm, Williamson Magor & Company, to service the requirements of tea estates in Assam.
The offices were originally at 7 New China Bazaar Street, in Calcutta before they moved in 1894 to Four Mangoe Lane, where the Company is still located today. The Williamson Magor Partnership grew in strength over the years and went through the usual cyclic patterns common to the tea industry. In 1954, it was renamed Williamson Magor & Co Limited, when it changed its status to a limited company.
Brij Mohan Khaitan, an East India merchant who used to supply the estates with fertilizers and tea chests, was asked to join the Board of the company in 1963 and became the Managing Director in 1964. In 1975, Williamson Magor merged with another company, Macneill and Barry Ltd which had interests in tea and other businesses. The new company was named Macneill and Magor Limited.
1987 saw the Guthrie family in the UK selling their shareholding in the McLeod Russel group, which included the Makum and Namdang Tea Companies to the Khaitan family, making the Macneill and Magor group, the single largest producer of Assam tea, a position still held by the group. In 1992, Macneill and Magor Limited was renamed Williamson Magor & Co. Limited.
In 1994 the Group through McLeod Russel India Limited bought 51% of the Equity Share holding of Union Carbide India Limited and the Company was renamed Eveready Industries India Limited. Subsequently, McLeod Russel India Limited was merged with Eveready Industries India Limited. After the said merger the new Company had two Divisions, the Bulk Tea Division which managed the Tea estates of McLeod Russel and the Battery Division which produced and marketed the popular Eveready batteries and flashlights.
In April, 2004 Eveready Industries demerged the two divisions into two separate companies, McLeod Russel India Limited and Eveready Industries India Limited. This enabled McLeod Russel to concentrate on its core business of tea production. Eveready, with the second largest retail distribution network in India, enjoys more than 50% market share in their battery and flashlight business.
In July 2005, McLeod Russel acquired Borelli Tea Holdings Limited from the Magor family based in England and took over the 17 tea estates of its Indian subsidiary Williamson Tea Assam Ltd.In 2006 and 2007 McLeod Russel acquired two more quality Tea Companies in Assam namely Doom Dooma Tea Company and The Moran Tea Company India Limited. All three Companies acquired between 2005 and 2007 have been merged with McLeod Russel India Limited and thereby the Company became the largest Tea producing Company in the World.
In March 2009, our wholly owned subsidiary Borelli Tea Holdings Limited, U.K., acquired 100% of the Charter Capital of Phu Ben Tea Company Limited, Vietnam. Phu Ben has three tea estates and produces 4.5 million kilograms of Black CTC, Green CTC & Orthodox Green tea. In 2010, Borelli acquired the Rwenzori Tea Investments Limited from James Finlay International Tea Holdings Ltd. based in the United Kingdom.
The history of Rwenzori Tea, was initially set up as a para-statal and in 1994 was bought by James Finlay International and the Commonwealth Development Council (CDC) and jointly rehabilitated the tea estates and factories. In 2001 the CDC sold its stake to James Finlay International. McLeod Russel intends to continue the programme of systematic upgrades to the factories and estates.
The Republic of Uganda described as the "Pearl of Africa" is a landlocked country North-west of Lake Victoria and bordering Sudan to the north, Democratic Republic of Congo to the West, Rwanda and Tanzania to the South and Kenya to the East.A member of the newly formed East African Community (EAC), it has emerged from a difficult period to become a peaceful and stable nation.
Uganda has a population of approximately 32.7million (UN 2009) and covers an area of nearly 94,000sq miles (approximately 241,000sq km). It offers a unique opportunity to our group to explore and develop the potential of the tea plantation sector.
McLeod Russel Uganda now boasts six estates, with five factories and that produce over 15million kilos of made tea per annum. The six estates located on the western side of the country straddle the equator and produce tea that can be harvested around the year. They currently cover a tea area of approximately 3,300 hectares with the potential of a further 700 hectares of virgin land. Mcleod Russel Uganda directly employs over 5,000 people in the country.
In February, 2011 Borelli took over management control of Gisovu Tea Company Limited in Rwanda. The country of Rwanda is also known as the 'Land of a Thousand Hills' and borders Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of Congo to its West, whilst to the East lies Tanzania and Lake Victoria, to the South is Burundi and North lies Uganda.
The Gisovu tea estate is situated in the Western Province of Rwanda at an altitude of 7,500 feet above sea level and close to the source of the River Nile in the nearby Nyungwe Forest. It has the ideal growing conditions for producing some of the finest teas in the world which have an international following and are highly sought after for their briskness, flavour and exceptional quality. Gisovu was adjudged the overall winner at the 2011 Africa Tea Convention held at Mombasa, Kenya. Mcleod Russel is proud to be working with the Government and people of Rwanda in the finest tea estate in Africa.
Our Tea business directly employs around 90,000 people, a large number of whom are women.
