Calcutta, March 14: Calcutta-based Beeyu Overseas Ltd has firmed up plans to sell its wholly owned subsidiary Neelkanth Tea Company Ltd, including all its assets, as the company has been suffering huge losses for the last few quarters.

Beeyu Overseas had acquired Siliguri-based Neelkanth Tea Company in 2005-06 for around Rs 5.5 crore. In June 2008, the company board considered a scheme of amalgamation for Neelkanth Tea. The plan to sell Neelkanth Tea is part of the company’s decision to change its business model from a manufacturing to a tea-trading firm, a source told The Telegraph. The company sought regulatory approvals for the sale after its board okayed the proposal recently, the source said.

“Neelkanth Tea has become unviable due to losses incurred by the company,” Beeyu informed the Bombay Stock Exchange on February 6, 2009. Beeyu Overseas chairman and managing director B.P. Singh refused to comment on the issue.

The company was forced to stop manufacturing at its Ooty factory since August 2008 after the Tea Board of India revoked the factory’s registration, according to the provisions issued under the Tea Act of 1953.