Calcutta, Nov. 4 :    Calcutta, Nov. 4:  The Assam government has decided to offload a majority stake, and, along with it, management control of Assam Tea Corporation (ATC). It has already invited expression of interest for the move. The divestment of ATC could be either through outright sale of a 74 per cent stake in the company, or through long-term lease of individual gardens. The state government, however, is believed to prefer the option of leasing out its gardens on a long-term basis, to selling off a controlling stake in the company. The corporation, created by taking over sick tea gardens in the '70s, has, by now acquired a total of 14 tea gardens scattered over the six districts of the Brahmaputra and Barrak valleys. All the gardens are located in prime tea-producing areas and are well-connected by good roads and have been provided adequate power supply facility. The combined capacity of the 14 gardens is around 8 million kgs. The corporation also has about 10 factories to process tea leaves to produce black tea. According to the ATC annual report, average production over the past five years was between 6 to 6.5 million kgs.