Starbucks Corp said on Wednesday it plans to buy tea store chain Teavana Holdings Inc for $620 million ( Rs. 3348 crore), aiming to replicate the success it has had with its namesake coffee shops.
Teavana has 300 shopping mall stores that sell loose-leaf exotic teas. In addition to opening standalone Teavana stores in the US and abroad Starbucks will add tea bars that serve prepared drinks in existing Teavana stores, said Howard Schultz, chief executive, Starbucks.

"We will do for tea what we did for coffee," said Schultz. "Tea is the opportunity of a lifetime."

The deal marks the third acquisition over the past year from Starbucks,  which is looking for new avenues of growth beyond its core coffee business.

Teavana chief executive Andy Mack is forecasting 500 total Teavana stores by 2015.

The world's largest coffee shop operator will pay $15.5 per share in cash for Teavana.

Starbucks had bought Tazo tea for $8.1 million in 1999.