The Hindu Business Line : Dabur in talks with Anchor to sell Binaca brand

According to industry sources, the company is in advanced talks with the Mumbai-based Anchor Health & Beauty Care to sell off its Binaca brand. When contacted by Business Line, Mr Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Dabur India Ltd confirmed that talks to sell off Binaca were being negotiated. However, he declined to divulge specific names. "We are talking to leading oral care players, and till a deal is finalised, we cannot talk about it," Mr Duggal said.

Meanwhile, confirming that Anchor Health & Beauty Care had been approached to acquire the Binaca brand, Mr Sanjay Shah, Anchor's Joint Managing Director, stated, "We would not like to comment any further on this at this stage."

In addition to Anchor, other significant oral care majors include Colgate-Palmolive, FMCG giant Hindustan Lever with its Pepsodent and Close-up brands, and the economy segment player Babool from Balsara Home Products Ltd.

Brand Binaca's valuation has been fixed at a floor price of Rs 20 crore, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers is negotiating the deal on behalf of Dabur.

Dabur India had acquired the Binaca brand from Reckitt Benckiser in the mid-1990s. However, with the objective of consolidating its core brands, the company had decided to sell off Binaca at the beginning of this year, citing that Binaca was a non-core brand and did not fit in the company's restructured portfolio.

The company's restructured brand strategy revolves around two flagship brands - brand Dabur, for natural healthcare products and Vatika, positioned on the premium personal care platform. These two brands are expected to account for up to 80 per cent of the company's sales.

Anchor Health operates in the mass category of oral care and has seen rapid growth in recent years, eating into the share of Pepsodent and Close-up and Colgate. However, Anchor was caught in a controversy a couple of months back, when Colgate-Palmolive alleged that the packaging of Anchor's toothpowder was similar to that of Colgate.

The Delhi High Court had restrained Anchor from using Colgate's red and white colour packaging. Refusing to comment on the issue, Mr Shah said, "The matter is sub-judice."

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