Mumbai, Dec 20 (IANS) Now half of Britain will be using Tata salt. The group has acquired the dominant salt-maker company which has the 50 percent share of the British market.

Tata Chemicals's UK subsidiary Brunner Mond has signed a deal to acquire British Salt Limited for $144.6 million (93 million pound), the company announced Monday.

"TCL's wholly owned subsidiary Brunner Mond, UK, has signed a binding agreement to acquire 100 percent stake in British Salt Ltd, UK, subject to requisite regulatory approvals," the company said in a regulatory filing.

"The acquisition will be entirely debt financed with no recourse to TCL," it added.

Manufacturer of dried vacuum salt, British Salt has a 50 percent market share in the UK. The company owns brine wells with residual life of 50 years.

"The acquisition is in line with the strategy of Tata Chemicals to deepen its presence in the food and farm sectors and will help secure raw material for Brunner Mond operations," said R. Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals.

"This will help Brunner Mond maintain its low cost manufacturing position in Europe and provides great opportunity to optimise the costs further. The combined entity will improve overall financial position of our European operations," he added.

Apart from the core business of salt, British Salt is also active in the gas storage business and has a business model with potential to generate additional cash flow for the business.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange Monday the company shares were 0.79 percent up to trade at Rs.374.10.