Daily Times

Ekaterra held a press conference during which they discussed their sustainability commitments and their commitment to Pakistan. ekaterra, which is home to brands including Lipton, Brooke Bond Supreme and Pearl Dust, was the Unilever tea division until July 2022. It is now acquired by CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII. CVC, is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 25 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the US, with approximately US$125 billion of assets under management. Since its founding in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of US$165 billion from some of the world’s leading institutional investors across its private equity and credit strategies. Funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in more than 100 companies worldwide, which have combined annual sales of over US$100 billion and employ more than 450,000 people.

As the global market leader in tea, ekaterra recognises the responsibility it holds as a major buyer and is continually working to make its supply chain more sustainable. This starts with helping to improve the lives of the people who pick our tea leaves and how we blend and package our products, through to reducing the environmental impact tea production has on the planet.

The press conference was held at Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore and was led by Farheen Salman, President BSPAN & General Manager Pakistan, Bruno Laine, Chief Supply Chain Officer, and Irfan Bhatti, Supply Chain Lead, BSPAN. At the press conference, Farheen emphasised on the importance of private corporations coming together to address the impacts of climate change.

‘Our vision is to grow a world of wellbeing through the regenerative power of plants while our mission is to enable a virtuous cycle of growth for everyone connected to our business, consumer, employees, community, planet, shareholders, ‘ commented Farheen. Meanwhile, Bruno Laine, Chief Supply Chain Officer emphasised the importance of Pakistan as a key market for ekaterra. Bruno mentioned that the potential for tea consumption in Pakistan and adding new market segment is immense, which ekaterra would be interested in tapping on to. Not only that, Laine spoke about the technologies that can be replicated in Pakistan as the government of Pakistan looks to increasing the size of tea producing land to 25,000 acres. These technological advancements have the potential to yield an increase in production by up to 50% in the next 10 years. Highlighting sustainability efforts already embarked in Pakistan, Irfan Bhatti spoke about the journey of installing solar panels for their tea factory in Khanewal. This project was led by the company’s engineers which required an installation of 806 KW System Size which resulted in a 60% energy generation from the solar system.