Finlays, a global supplier of tea, coffee and plant extracts, will sell its Sri Lankan tea plantation business to Browns Investments PLC, These include Hapugastenne Plantations PLC and Udapussellawa Plantations PLC.

Founded in 1750, Finley Group is an international supplier of tea, coffee and plant extracts to global beverage brands. It is now part of Swire Group and headquartered in London, UK. At first, Finley was an independent British listed company. Later, the parent company of Swire Pacific UK began to invest in Finley. In 2000, Swire Pacific bought Finley and took it private. Finley tea factory operates in B2B mode. Finley does not have its own brand, but provides tea, tea powder, tea bags, etc., in the background of brand companies. Finley is more engaged in supply chain and value chain work, and provides tea belonging to agricultural products to brand parties in a traceable way.

Following the sale, Brown Investments will be obliged to make a mandatory acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Hapujasthan Plantation Listed Company Limited and Udapselava Plantation Listed Company Limited. The two plantation companies consist of 30 tea plantations and 20 processing centres located in six agro-climatic zones in Sri Lanka.

Brown Investments Limited is a highly successful diversified conglomerate and is part of LOLC Holding Group of companies. Brown Investments, based in Sri Lanka, has a successful plantation business in the country. Its Maturata Plantations, one of Sri Lanka’s largest tea producing companies, consists of 19 individual Plantations covering more than 12,000 hectares and employs more than 5,000 people.

There will be no immediate changes to the workforce at The Hapujasthan and Udapselava plantations after the acquisition, and Brown Investments intends to continue operating as it has been doing so far.

Sri Lanka Tea Garden

Finley (Colombo) LTD will continue to operate on behalf of Finley in Sri Lanka and the tea blending and packaging business will be sourced through the Colombo auction from a number of provenance areas including the Hapujasthan and Udapselava plantations. This means finley can continue to provide consistent service to its customers.

“Hapujasthan and Udapselava plantations are two of the best managed and produced plantation companies in Sri Lanka and we are proud to partner with them and participate in their future planning,” said Kamantha Amarasekera, director of Brown Investments. We will work with Finley to ensure a smooth transition between the two groups. We warmly welcome the management and employees of Hapujasthan and Udapselava plantations to join the Brown family, which has a business tradition dating back to 1875.”

Guy Chambers, finley group managing director, said: “After careful consideration and a rigorous selection process, we have agreed to transfer ownership of the Sri Lankan Tea Plantation to Brown Investments. As a Sri Lankan investment company with a proven track record in the agricultural sector, Brown Investments is well placed to explore and fully demonstrate the long-term value of the Hapujasthan and Udapselava plantations. These Sri Lankan tea gardens have played an important role in finley’s history and we are sure they will continue to thrive under the management of Brown Investments. I am grateful to our Sri Lankan tea plantation colleagues for their enthusiasm and loyalty in their previous work and wish them all the best for the future.”