Three potential suitors emerged to acquire gardens from debt-trapped McLeod Russel India Ltd a day after Carbon Resources pulled out of talks and sold its entire 5 per cent stake in the company.

The Chandra Kumar Dhanuka-led Dhunseri group, Himanshu Shah-led M.K. Shah Export and Harsh Mohan Gupta-led Rossel Tea have shown interest in picking up gardens from McLeod.

“I am in touch with the Khaitans (promoters of McLeod) and the banks to acquire some gardens,” Dhanuka told this newspaper Friday morning.

He is ready to buy about 7.5 million kg tea, which may cost anything between Rs 260-300 crore depending on the price.

“I am keen, not desperate,” Dhanuka added.

Himanshu Shah, chairman of M.K. Shah Exports, echoed Dhanuka. “We have some interest. If we get the desired gardens, we may look into it. But it is early days,” Shah told The Telegraph this evening.

Soon after Carbon Resources Private Ltd had picked up a stake in McLeod in September 2022, Shah had jumped into the fray, offering to buy gardens from the Khaitans.

He sounded reticent on Friday, underlining that the “ground reality” had changed, factoring in the weakening tea industry scenario, induced by lower prices for the crop and a cost-push led by an impending wage hike.

“I am aware that you buy an asset (garden) for the long term but any decision must recognise the ground reality,” Shah said.

Like Shah, Rossell India had also shown interest in picking up gardens from McLeod in October last year. Talks gained momentum after McLeod exited the corporate insolvency resolution process in May.

“Rossel is looking to buy about 5 million kg,” a source in the company said, adding that discussions are in an early stage and nothing has been finalised.

The Calcutta tea circle was rife with talks that the Khaitans may be looking to raise Rs 700 crore by offloading anywhere between 14 and 16 gardens. The sale proceeds will be the principal component of a one-time settlement McLeod is discussing with banks to settle its debt of around Rs 1,600 crore.

“Today you heard three names. May be you will hear five more next week,” said a top source in McLeod.

He insisted that there would be enough people interested in McLeod gardens as they are known to be well managed and produce good quality crops.

“There may be smaller entities which may be interested in picking up one or two gardens each. Not necessarily, there has to be big groups always,” the source with direct knowledge of discussions with potential parties commented.

McLeod appears to be taking heart from the sale process ran by Apeejay Tea, which liquidated close to 20 million kg piecemeal.

“The Assam Frontier (Apeejay Tea) transactions have demonstrated that one may not need to sell gardens en bloc to one or two people. There are always takers for quality gardens,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The Suresh Jalan family-owned Carbon was willing to buy 15 gardens, capable of producing 18 million kg for Rs 750 crore. McLeod sources said the list of potential suitors would be ready by July end and the transactions could be closed by October. The company has 32 gardens in Assam and one in Bengal, producing 42 million kg tea.