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Mr A. Mahendran

Archana Venkat

Chennai, Dec. 14

Godrej Sara Lee Ltd is closing a $50-million (about Rs 200 crore) acquisition in China next month. According to Mr A. Mahendran, Managing Director, Godrej Sara Lee Ltd, the Chinese company is in the business of household insecticides.

Talking to Business Line on the sidelines of L’Attitude 13 05’, a management fest organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management here, he said the acquisition would provide a channel for the company to launch its brands — Jet, Hit and Goodnight — in China. He did not share any others details regarding the acquisition.

The Rs 700-crore company also plans to take the distribution of recently acquired brand Kiwi shoe polish across the country. Until now, the brand was popular in South India as the previous distributor had a strong foothold in the region, Mr Mahendran said. When asked what investment would go into the plan, he said there was no significant capital investment, “we will utilise our existing distribution networks.”

When asked why the company acquired a shoe polish brand when its presence was strong in the household insecticides business, Mr Mahendran said “acquisitions are providence” and that the Godrej Sara Lee brand was into “care” in general. “We are into hair care (Brylcreem), car care (Ambi Pur Car), air care (electronic room freshners), floor care (Kleen Flush) and now into shoe care with Kiwi,” he said explaining how the acquisition was in line with the company’s existing basket of brands.

He said the company did not pitch for acquisitions, nor had earmarked a target amount towards the same. He cited the example of group company, the erstwhile Godrej Foods & Beverages’ (now Godrej Hershey Foods & Beverages Ltd) acquisition of Nutrine Confectionery as a case in point. “We did not think we would buy Nutrine a month before the acquisition actually happened,” he said in response to a question on future acquisitions planned by the company.

Godrej Sara Lee recently revamped the Goodnight brand and Mr Mahendran said the market share of the product in the Rs 1,600-crore market for mosquito repellents, was up “significantly” and that the branding exercise had paid off. He, however, did not share any numbers substantiating this or the expected revenues from the brand in the current fiscal.

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