• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

C.J. Punnathara

Advertisement

Munnar Feb. 15 The Rs 105 crore Kanan Devan Hills Plantation Company has sent a proposal to the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, for taking over 9,000-acre tea plantations under nine estates from the Ram Bahadur Thakur (RBT) group in Kerala.

Acknowledging the receipt of the letter, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said at a meeting in Idukki district in Kerala that his Ministry was studying the proposal and hoped to revive some of the closed estates. The acquisition by Kanan Devan, possibly the largest participatory management company in the world with around 13,000 shareholders/workers, could help in reviving the livelihood of thousands of estate workers. An estimated 18,000 workers were expected to have lost their jobs after the nine estates closed their operations a few years ago.

Several workers' groups and workers' unions had approached the company to take over and manage the RBT estates, company sources said. Like in the instance of Kannan Devan, the new acquisition would also be brought under the Employee's Buyout Concept where the workers would become shareholders and participate in the company management. It may need an estimated Rs 100 crore as seed capital to revive the project, for which suggestions have been forwarded to the Ministry, the sources added. The company has chalked out a programme under which estates could be revived and turned profitable after five years of successful operations.

But before taking the project any further, Kannan Devan has expressed its desire to assess the depleted assets and growing liabilities of the plantations company. The company said it would be willing to initiate the project only if there is political consensus and acceptance from a large section of the RBT workers.

More Stories on : Tea | Mergers & Acquisitions

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Chana drops as investors keep off from long positions

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line