Jan 31, 2013: Tata Coffee Limited which acquired the Eight O Clock (EOC) brand in 2006 from Gryphon Investors for USD 220 million is all set to relaunch the brand in US and Canada. EOC a part of the Tata Global Beverages Ltd. (TGBL) family has been facing problems last year, but the top rated Colombian coffee has been seeing stronger numbers in the recent past. Mr. Hameed Huq, MD, Tata Coffee has been quoted as saying that Tata Coffee is going to relaunch EOC and reposition the product completely by May or June this year.
Tata Coffee had bought the EOC brand in a highly leveraged acquisition and the company had borrowed USD 168 million to fund this. In this scenario, it would rather become very crucial for Tata Coffee to boost up the EOC brand.
