Sky News has learnt that Advent International Corporation and GIC Pte. Ltd. (GIC) are in discussions about a joint offer for the division ahead of a bid deadline next week. If confirmed, the Advent-GIC consortium would be pitted against rival suitors including a combined offer from Cinven Limited and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as interest from The Carlyle Group Inc. (NasdaqGS:CG), Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC and KKR & Co.

Inc. (NYSE:KKR), three other large private equity firms. Alan Jope, Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR)'s Chief Executive officer, is seeking to sell or spin off its tea unit, which also includes famous brands such as Lipton Ice Tea, because of sluggish sales growth in the category globally. Jope began a strategic review of the division in January 2020, and a disposal is unlikely to be completed until 2022. The auction does not include Unilever's tea operations in India or Indonesia, or its assets in the ready-to-drink tea segment.

Jope has been focusing Unilever's financial muscle on acquiring brands in faster-growing consumer product categories such as skincare, where it acquired Paula's Choice, a digitally led brand, earlier in 2021. Advent and GIC have teamed up on several previous deals, most recently when they announced this month that they were jointly bidding for Sobi, a Swedish biotech group. Advent declined to comment on Monday.