Tata won't buy Bisleri; founder's daughter Jayanti Chauhan to lead mineral water company

Jayanti Chauhan, the daughter of Bisleri International chairman Ramesh Chauhan, will steer the bottled water company now that Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) has withdrawn from the acquisition process, according to a media report.

"Jayanti will run the company with our professional team and we do not want to sell the business," Bisleri chairman Ramesh Chauhan told The Economic Times.

Jayanti Chauhan, 42, currently heads as vice chairperson of the company that her father built and promoted. Moving further, she will work with the professional management team led by chief executive Angelo George.

The 82-year-old Chauhan had earlier agreed to sell the brand to Tata Group for an estimated Rs 7,000 crore. However, the deal was later called off by Tata Consumer due to "indecisiveness," ET reported on March 18. There were no differences over valuation, as per the report.

Tata Consumer had begun talks with Bisleri about two years ago but decided to call off the negotiations last week.

Jayanti has been involved with the business periodically over the years. The Vedika brand, part of Bisleri's portfolio, has been her focus in recent years.

Tata Group had reportedly gone to great lengths to assure Chauhan that Bisleri's legacy would continue under the Tata Group. "But we had to finally call off this fence-sitting," one of the sources told ET.  

Sunil D'Souza, Tata Consumer's managing director, stated on recent earnings calls that acquisitions remain a core part of the company's growth strategy.

The company "has not entered into any definitive agreement or binding commitment with Bisleri International," the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) arm of the Tata Group said on March 17 in an exchange filing.

"The company wishes to update that it has now ceased negotiations with Bisleri with regard to a potential transaction and to confirm that the company has not entered into any definitive agreement or binding commitment on this matter," it added.

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