Typhoo Tea was “strangled” by debt under its private equity owners, its new owner has said as it pledged to turn around the century-old tea maker.
Supreme, the London-listed vape and drinks supplier, bought Typhoo Tea out of administration on Monday for £10.2 million.
Typhoo Tea, founded in 1903 by John Sumner Jr, a Birmingham grocer, appointed administrators last week after it was unable to find creditors to pay back its debts amid falling sales.
Sandy Chadha, chief executive of Supreme, said that the company had struggled since its debt-fuelled private equity takeover and had also had “lots of bad luck”.
“There has been too much debt on the business in the past, which strangles your business,” he said.
Typhoo Tea was previously owned