Who Owns PG Tips? Lipton Teas And Infusions Since 2022

The short version: A UK guide to PG Tips ownership: Lipton Teas and Infusions since 2022 spin off from Unilever, CVC Capital Partners private equity ownership.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

PG Tips is one of Britain's biggest tea names, and its owner is not who many assume. This sits in the tea industry cluster beside the ownership map.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in April 2026.

Industry information accurate as of May 2026 and based on public reporting; ownership and trading positions change. Not financial advice.

PG Tips ownership at a glance

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for PG Tips ownership at a glance, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

Detail	Fact
Current owner	Lipton Teas and Infusions (also called Ekaterra)
Spun off from	Unilever, July 2022
Lipton Teas owner	CVC Capital Partners (private equity, acquired 2022 for EUR 4.5bn)
HQ location	Rotterdam, Netherlands (post spin off)
Brand portfolio	Lipton, PG Tips, Pukka, Tazo, T2, plus 30+ tea brands globally
PG Tips brand origin	1930, Brooke Bond, UK
PG Tips chimps adverts era	1956-2002 (legendary British TV advertising campaign)
UK market position	One of three dominant UK tea brands
Plastic free bag transition	Completed 2018 (pioneer transition)
Manufacturing	Trafford Park, Manchester, UK

The current owner

PG Tips is owned by Lipton Teas and Infusions (also called Ekaterra), the standalone tea company separated from Unilever in 2022, which now holds more than thirty tea brands worldwide including Lipton, Pukka, Tazo and T2. Lipton Teas and Infusions is itself owned by CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm that bought the business for around EUR 4.5bn, and it is headquartered in Rotterdam. So PG Tips sits two layers deep: a British brand inside a Dutch based, private equity owned tea group. See the ownership map.

The Unilever spin off

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

Unilever announced the disposal of its global tea business in 2020 as part of a portfolio simplification under then CEO Alan Jope. The package included Lipton, PG Tips, Pukka, Tazo, T2 and dozens of regional brands across more than fifty countries, and the sale completed in July 2022 to CVC Capital Partners for roughly EUR 4.5bn. The new entity was named Ekaterra corporately and Lipton Teas and Infusions for consumers, with its head office moved to Rotterdam. It is now the world's largest tea only business. The handover was deliberately gradual, so drinkers saw essentially no change in the product.

The Brooke Bond history

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for The Brooke Bond history, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

PG Tips began in 1930 as a Brooke Bond product; the name came from Pre Gestee Tips, a digestion promoting marketing angle later shortened. It grew fast through the 1930s and 1950s, and the chimps advertising campaign, chimpanzees in costume voiced by celebrity actors, ran from 1956 to 2002 and became one of British television's most famous adverts. Unilever bought Brooke Bond in 1984, and PG Tips stayed a Unilever brand for 38 years until the 2022 spin off, pioneering the pyramid bag in 1996 and the plastic free bag in 2018 along the way. See the pyramid bag story.

Is PG Tips still British?

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Is PG Tips still British?, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

PG Tips is British in heritage (a 1930 UK origin) and in manufacturing (Trafford Park, Manchester), but not in corporate ownership: the Lipton Teas and Infusions parent is Dutch headquartered and owned by Luxembourg domiciled private equity. This is the same shape as many supposedly British brands, Cadbury (Mondelez) or Rowntree (Nestle), with their heritage and operations in the UK but ultimate ownership elsewhere. Both answers are valid; it depends which sense of British you mean.

What private equity ownership means

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for What private equity ownership means, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

Private equity ownership shapes what to expect. CVC is one of Europe's largest PE firms, and its playbook is standard: a debt financed purchase, operational improvement (cost reduction, portfolio rationalisation, geographic expansion), and eventually an exit by trade sale or flotation. For a stable, high volume brand like PG Tips, that means it functions as a dependable cash generator rather than a growth engine, so expect gradual efficiency savings (slightly cheaper inputs over time), no dramatic recipe changes that would hurt sales, and an eventual re sale of the whole group. CVC's typical hold is three to seven years, and by 2026 it has owned the business for about four, so the next ownership event is plausibly near. See sector pressures.

PG Tips versus Tetley versus own brand

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for PG Tips versus Tetley versus own brand, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

The British mainstream black tea market comes down to three branded names, PG Tips, Tetley and Yorkshire Tea, plus supermarket own brand. All three brands are corporate owned (PG Tips by Lipton Teas and Infusions, Tetley by Tata, Yorkshire Tea by the family owned Bettys and Taylors), and the meaningful choice between them is mostly price and bag format rather than nationality. Own brand tea is often drawn from the same Indian, Kenyan and Sri Lankan estates as the branded blends, just without the marketing premium, and in blind tasting many drinkers cannot tell them apart. See who owns Tetley.

What to buy

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for What to buy, Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

For PG Tips itself buy PG Tips tea or PG Tips Gold. For comparable mid tier British black tea buy Tetley, Typhoo or Yorkshire Tea (Bettys & Taylors, family owned). For premium British tea buy Twinings or Fortnum & Mason. For specialist premium buy Teapigs or Clipper.

Reference noted

Hernandez et al., Plastic Teabags Release Particles (2019)

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

From the curatorteas · If a tea on this page sounds appealing, just try it once. You learn more in one cup than in twenty articles.

More from the tea wiki

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Who Owns PG Tips?. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/who owns pg tips/

Download as PDF