(Reuters) -Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has agreed to buy Unilever’s tea business for 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) after outbidding rivals Advent and Carlyle, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing sources.
The European takeover group reached an agreement with the Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise maker following this week’s auction process, the report said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Unilever and CVC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The London-listed consumer goods company’s shares were marginally lower in late afternoon trading.
Unilever had been reviewing options for its global tea business since 2019, as demand for black teas waned and consumer tastes changed.
Last year, the company decided to keep its India and Indonesia tea operations as well as its bottled tea joint venture with PepsiCo and to spin off the rest of the business into a separate entity.
The separation of the entity, which houses its Pukka Herbs, Tazo and PG Tips teas, concluded this year and was named Ekaterra in October. The business generated revenue of 2 billion euros annually.
($1 = 0.8814 euros)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
