How 'bhadralok of business' B M Khaitan built an empire through buyouts

Industrialists who build an empire by snapping up firms rarely earn titles like “Gentleman Raider”, but till he breathed his last on Saturday, Brij Mohan Khaitan was fondly called “bhadralok”.

From tea to batteries and engineering, the B M Khaitan group — or the Williamson Magor group as it came to be called — was a business empire built meticulously through acquisitions, big and small.

Perhaps, the only thing that he built was the corporate headquarters of his group, 4 Mangoe Lane — which was once Hampton Court for the British managers of Williamson Magor & Company, one of India's