Indian News UNLOCKING VALUE
Founding family puts Super Vasmol brand of hair colours on the block Leading personal care companies Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., Marico, Emami, Dabur and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) have reportedly been tapped as the founding family behind Super Vasmol hair colours has decided to sell its flagship brand for Rs. 1,500-1,800-crore. The transaction would give an exit to PremjiInvest that in 2015 invested Rs. 216-crore for around one-third stake of Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd., the company behind the 63-year old brand.
salon or the professional channel, its products are currently sold in 25,00030,000 outlets directly and the company aims to grow them to about 50,000 in the next two years. Trade analysts claim, Super Vasmol has a strong market share in east and south, and any company that has plans to deepen its presence in the two markets is likely to make a play. It also has retail presence in the hair-care segment in Bangladesh, where it competes with Marico, and Nepal, and its products are exported to about 20 countries.
The monetisation exercise would also unlock value for the founders – the Chhabra family – who want to continue running the profitable company as well as Streax brands of hair colour products. The flagship brand is likely to get demerged into a separate vehicle from a tax efficiency point of view. The deal is likely to entail a structure wherein some of the sale consideration will be used to pay off PremjiInvest. The company was founded in 1950 by late SS Nishat. Over the years, it has built brands such as Super Vasmol 33, Keshkala, Vasmol Kali Mehendi, Super Vasmol Aamla Herbal Powder Hair Dyes, Vasmol Shaving
Cream, Streax Hair Colour, Streax Pro and Streax Euro range of professional products, Yogiraj Thanda Tel, Florozone range of skincare products and Silkiss shampoo range. Hygienic Research has five manufacturing plants in India, at Mumbai, Baddi and Guwahati. The company has a direct pan India retail distribution network of over 4 lakh outlets and aims to grow it by 25% on-year to reach Rs. 1,000-crore topline by 2020. In the
Even in the past, players like Godrej, Marico and Dabur had made overtures to buy the company or its brands but till date the family had resisted. PremjiInvest was the first external investor. The Indian hair care industry has evolved to a $3.3-bn, or about Rs. 23,600-crore, market, with growth rate of about 10%, according to a 2019 report by Nielsen.
GF Biochemicals to set up plant for biodegradable solvents in India or Europe GF Biochemicals has teamed with Oman-based Towell Engineering Group for a joint venture (JV) to produce bio-based levulinic acid as well as bio-solvents and bio-plasticisers using the levulinic acid. 14
The JV, called Nxtlevvel Biochem, will use GF Biochemicals’ proprietary technology and will undertake both production and marketing based in the Netherlands, alongside GF Biochemicals.
The partnership expects to open a plant in Europe or India that will produce 30,000-tpa of biodegradable solvents and plasticisers for cleaning, personal care, coatings, and agriculture markets.
Home, Personal & Institutional Care India March 2020
