Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd. - (Amalgamation) - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

Mount Everest Mineral Water Limited is a public limited company incorporated in 1991 with its plant at Dhaula Kuan in Sirmour District of Himachal Pradesh. The company was promoted by Dr. Dadi Balsara, an NRI from Singapore. It had its first public issue in 1995. The company’s registered office is located at Himachal Pradesh.

Mount Everest Mineral Water (MEMW) became a part of Tata Tea in 2007. The company bottles and sells natural mineral water under the brand name Himalayan, which is the only internationally accepted natural mineral water from India. MEMW sources its water directly from an underground aquifer located about 130 metres below the earth's surface in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas. Himalayan is bottled at source.

The Tata group, through Tata Tea, have acquired 31.73% holding in the company partly by purchase of shares from the investors, who had bought the shares from Dr. Balsara in 2001, and partly by preferential allotment. Tata Tea, being the single largest shareholder of the company, and with the management being firmly with the Tata group, the company is now A TATA Enterprise.

The company started its commercial production in April 1997. The water is sourced from a large pristine and protected acquifer which flows well below the earth’s surface. The water is collected in the catchment area and travels through rocks, clay and soil, thereby collecting the minerals available therein. The process of traveling from the catchment area, reaching the acquifer and then being bottled takes a period of over 20 years. The acquifer has a recharge capacity of 1 billion litres every year.

Under the previous management the product was sold largely in the Institutional and foodservices segment. The company now proposes to expand its retail distribution network by appointing consignee and distributors agents in various parts of the country. The company’s existing clientele includes 5 Star Hotels, Airlines, Embassies etc, and tie-ups with ‘A’ category retail outlets, modern retail (malls), multiplexes, hypermarts, fine-dine restaurants are also in the offing.

The brand Himalayan, enjoys an aspirational equity amongst consumers and has the potential of truly becoming an international and iconic brand, it is this potential that the new management proposes to unlock through brand building and enhanced distribution.

Mount Everest Mineral Water (MEW) launched the Himalayan brand in its new, international and aspirational ‘avatar’ as the natural mineral water from the Himalayas in India in May 2008. Nurtured and enriched by nature, Himalayan natural mineral water is endowed with the wellness of vital organic minerals. The water is untouched and unprocessed, with a unique taste acquired over 20 years of percolation, as it makes its way to the underground aquifer located in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas.

Product range of the company include:

The company’s principal activity is to manufacture packaged natural mineral water with in-house facilities to manufacture PET bottles and caps. It markets its products under the brand name Himalayan.Himalayan natural mineral water is available in six pack sizes namely, 2 ltr, 1.5 ltr, 1 ltr, 750 ml, 500 ml, and 200 ml.

Clientele of the company

Himalayan natural mineral water’s clientele includes luxury hotel chains like The Taj, The Oberoi, Marriott, InterContinental; premium airlines like Jet Airways; leading multiplexes such as Adlabs; fine dining restaurants like Zodiac Grill, China Gate, Golden Dragon, Indiana Jones, and Frangipani among others.

Awards/Achievements

• The company and the product enjoy the certification of various authorities like HACCP, BIS and ISI in India.
• Himalayan is the only natural mineral water from India, internationally accredited by the US FDA, the health ministries of Japan and France, the European Union and the Institut de Fresenius, Germany.