Nestle bids for India's Himalayan water - report
MUMBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Nestle Waters, a unit of Nestle SA (NESN.VX), the world's largest food company, has bid for India's Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd. (MEMW.BO), the Economic Times reported on Monday.
India's Tata group had also bid more than 2 billion rupees
($47 million) for the company, which sells the premium Himalayan brand of bottled water, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
Nestle, which sells the Perrier brand of bottled water, launched Nestle Pure Life water in India in 2001 but pulled the brand a couple of years later.
The Tatas were "close to clinching the deal" with Mount Everest, a part of the Dadi group, and were also likely to launch other beverages such as fortified water, the paper said.
A spokesman for the Tata group said the report was speculative. A spokesman for Nestle India Ltd. (NEST.BO) could not be reached immediately.
Tata Tea Ltd. (TTTE.BO), the world's second-largest packaged tea company, owns 30 percent in U.S.-based Energy Brands Inc., which sells Glaceau enhanced water.
($1=42.5 rupees)
((Reporting by Rina Chandran, editing by John Mair; Reuters Messaging: rina.chandran.reuters.com@reuters.net; +91 22 6636 9251)) Keywords: NESTLE WATER/
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