Debt-laden McLeod Russel’s selling spree continues.

After exiting fully from Rwanda earlier this week, the Khaitans have struck a deal with Luxmi Tea Group to dispose of two gardens in Assam.

The agreement, which was signed on Wednesday, values the gardens — Mahakali and Addabarie — at Rs 100 crore, tea industry sources said.

Put together, these gardens, on an average, produce 2.8 million kilogram of tea and usually process another 0.7 million kg of bought leaf from the small growers.

The deal marks the third transaction between the two groups. In June last year, Luxmi bought four gardens in Moran area in Dibrugarh district of upper Assam for Rs 141 crore. Those gardens can produce 4 million kg of leaf and process another 1 million kg of bought leaf.

The Mahakali garden is also located in upper Assam, in Tinsukia district, where on an average 1.3 million kg tea is produced from own leaf.

Addabarie is situated in the northern bank of the state, near Tejpur, where 1.5 million kg leaf can be produced.

Neither Luxmi Group, owned by Dipankar Chatterjee and his family, nor McLeod Russel commented on the development.

In between the two domestic deals, Khaitans also sold off two gardens with crop capacity of 4.6 million kg in Rwanda for around Rs 205 crore.

Before the latest pact, McLeod had offloaded nearly 38 million kg in production and raked in Rs 790 crore from India and Rs 205 crore from Africa, altering the global pecking order among private tea producers in the world.

Camellia Plc of the UK, the parent of Goodricke Group in India, is now the largest producer of the beverage in the world ahead of McLeod, which is estimated to be left with around 77 million kg of own production. However, industry sources said the group was likely to offload more gardens as it rushes to cover the debts piled up on account of exposure to engineering firm McNally Bharat.

“Despite the sale, the Khaitans continue to own some of the best gardens in Assam and one can argue the gardens they still holding on to are definitely more profitable than those were sold,” the sources added.

While it is not unusual for owners to rejig their portfolio of gardens, it has so far been a one-way street for McLeod. Luxmi Tea also recently sold two gardens, in Assam (Lengrai estate) and Dooars (Matelli) in Bengal for Rs 60 crore.

Rating agency Icra had earlier downgraded McLeod’s credit rating by two notches because of its higher-than-anticipated debt exposure to group entities despite the company selling off gardens to raise cash and pare debt.

The agency had also noted that the core operation of tea plantation was under stress.