Plans by European private equity group CVC Capital Partners to sell tea estates it purchased from Unilever in Kenya less than three years ago have run into headwinds as a consortium of local cooperatives fight to rival Sri Lanka’s Browns Investment Plc and agricultural firm Sasini for the multi-billion shilling assets.
Insider sources said that CVC Capital Partners has received bids by Sasini and Browns even as community groups and a consortium of local cooperative societies stepped up a fight to be included in bids for the Lipton Tea assets, which include tea plantations and leaf processing factories.
