CHANGING HANDS

Calcutta, Oct. 24: Tide Water Oil Ltd, part of public sector conglomerate Andrew Yule, has bought the worldwide rights of the Veedol brand from energy major BP Plc.

Before the deal, Tide Water solely had the rights to the Veedol brand of lubricants in India, where the company manufactured and sold the product.

Now, Tide Water will have the global rights to the Veedol master brand as well as the associated product and sub brands, opening new markets for the PSU across the globe.

The company today informed the BSE that it had acquired 100 per cent shares of Veedol International Ltd, a company registered in the UK and a wholly owned subsidiary of BP Plc, on October 19, 2011.

The BP spokesperson at the company’s headquarters in London, Sheila Williams, declined to comment on the deal but clarified the sale did not include any product or manufacturing facility.

BP had put the iconic Veedol and Duckhams lubricant brands on the block earlier this year as it decided to focus on core brands — Castrol and BP.

BP had then said a deal would not include any sales or customer list, product formulation, rights or any commitment to supply or other operational support.

Tide Water Oil Company of the US, which had a 22 per cent stake in Tide Water Oil India, was sold to Getty Oil and then to the Chevron Texaco group that held the shares through Four Star Oil and Gas Company.

Under Getty Oil, the Veedol brand was spun off into a separate company, Veedol International, except in India and Scotland. Getty Oil subsequently sold its stake in Veedol International to BP Plc in 1986.

Andrew Yule owns a 26.22 per cent stake in Tide Water. Four Star Oil had exited the company during 2008-09 by selling its stake. The Union government had once decided to divest Yule’s stake in Tide Water. But the sale was put off after Yule became profitable by selling two other companies — Phoenix Yule and DPSC Ltd.

The Tide Water stock outperformed the broader market today, going up 1.24 per cent, or Rs 81.55, on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.92 per cent.

Tide Water has five plants at Howrah, Oragadam, Turbhe, Silvassa and Faridabad, selling the Veedol brand of engine oils for trucks, tractors, commercial vehicles, passenger cars and two-and three-wheelers.

The Veedol brand has an illustrious history. It was the motor oil chosen by Henry Ford to lubricate the world’s first mass produced car, the “T” model, in the US. The lubricant was also used in the Graf Zeppelin — the first airship that flew around the world — and in Miss Veedol — the first plane to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to the US.