Unilever adds to tea portfolio with T2 acquisition

Australian premium tea business T2 has been acquired by Unilever for an undisclosed amount. T2 operates 40 stores throughout the country, with 2012-13 financial year sales in the vicinity of $57 million.

“T2 is a fast-growing, premium tea business with great potential,” said Kevin Havelock, Unilever President for Refreshment.

“Unilever is the biggest tea company in the world with brands like Lipton - one of Unilever’s ‘billion-plus’ brands - available in more than 70 countries. This will allow us to bring the benefits of scale and access to new markets to the T2 business and for both businesses to share tea category expertise. This deal will also bring a premium tea business to complement our portfolio that we can leverage in a similar way to other recent Unilever acquisitions.”

“Our Lipton and Bushells brands are two of Australia’s oldest and best-loved tea brands and tea is a strategically important category for Unilever Australia,” said Clive Stiff, Unilever Australasia Chairman.

“We know tea drinkers are increasingly looking for new and diverse tea flavours, so we are delighted to be bringing T2’s premium and exciting range into the fold. T2 is a great Australian success story - a story that we now intend to continue with Unilever.”

“Under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, we have led the tea industry to adopt sustainable agriculture practices, initiating certification by the Rainforest Alliance (RA) in 2007, since when some 450,000 smallholder farmers in our tea supply chain have been trained to the RA standard in partnership with Unilever in preparation for certification,” added Havelock.

“T2 have been working with Fair Trade since 2009 on their English breakfast tea, so we see the basis of a common philosophy here too.”