Danone, Wadia scrap ties in Britannia

NEW DELHI: Ending a 13-year oldassociation, the Wadia Group and Groupe Danone have terminated their jointventure in biscuit major Britannia Industries Ltd (BIL), with the Indian partnerbuying out the French food giant. The two partners have also agreedto end their dispute over the intellectual property of BIL's Tiger brand ofbiscuits. In a joint statement, the two firms said Danone has soldits 50% interest in ABI Holdings Ltd (held through Britannia Brands Limited) toWadia Group. ABI Holdings Ltd holds an effective 50.96% interest in BritanniaIndustries Ltd, a leading bakery company in India. This agreementalso sees an end to the intellectual property dispute over brand Tiger betweenDanone and Britannia, the statement added. "(The) Wadia Group ispleased with this acquisition... The company (BIL) is led and managed by acompetent team of professionals, who will continue to explore profitable growthopportunities in food- both in India and overseas," Britannia IndustriesChairman Nusli N Wadia said. The shares of Britannia Industries werelast trading 2.53% up at Rs 1,512.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.Groupe Danone CEO Franck Riboud said: "Danone is more keen than everto contribute to the development of the healthy food market by implementingDanone brands in India in the coming years." Thirteen years ofcollaboration between the Wadia Group and Groupe Danone in Britannia helped tobuild a strong and respected leader in the Indian biscuits industry, he added.By concluding this agreement, Groupe Danone is pursuing its strategyof divesting its biscuit activities and concentrating on its four strategicbusiness lines, it said. The French firm is concentrating on areas, includingdairy and pro-biotic products, in India. For the Wadia Group, theagreement constitutes a significant strengthening of its position withinBritannia, a company that is a model of profitable growth, the joint statementsaid, adding, the transaction would enable both the companies to further developtheir position in the growing Indian market. Early last week, afterfighting for over four years, Groupe Danone and the Wadias had struck a dealclearing the way for the French food giant to exit from their biscuit jointventure, Britannia Industries Ltd. In 2006, the Wadia group draggedDanone to court in Mumbai alleging the French firm's stake in biotech firmAvesthagen had violated a non-compete clause in their joint- venture agreement.Ever since, they were fighting over the IPR of the Tiger brand withBritannia Industries taking Danone to court in Singapore in 2007. The Indianbiscuit maker had alleged that Danone had registered the Tiger brand as its ownin nearly 40 countries.