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— Bijoy Ghosh

Mr C.K. Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director, CavinKare, (left) and Mr N.E. Kumar, Managing Director, Maa Fruits, at a press conference in Chennai on Wednesday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Feb. 27 Foods to FMCG company CavinKare Pvt Ltd has forayed into the fruit beverage market through the acquisition of a Tamil Nadu-based fruit drink brand Maa.

Announcing this at a press conference here, Mr C.K. Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director, said CavinKare has acquired the company, Maa Fruits Pvt Ltd, for a consideration of Rs 27.6 crore. Currently, Maa with four flavours (mango, pineapple, apple, guava) is present in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It has a 1.2 crore-litre facility at Dharmapuri district. “Apart from expanding the portfolio and capacity, we want to take the brand to other geographies in phases in the following months,” said Mr Ranganathan. According to him, the company is working out a strategy to expand the brand presence and is willing to invest in new facilities wherever required.

The Rs 500-crore CavinKare is present in the personal and home care segment and food segment with a range of products. With this acquisition, it enters into a new category of foods. To start with, the company intends to focus on increasing the brand visibility in the States wherever Maa is currently present. “We propose to spend at least 17 per cent of the turnover (of Maa) on advertising and marketing during the first few years,” said Mr Ranganathan.

So far, the brand, which is popular mostly in rural areas, has been banking just on its distribution strength. As CavinKare already has a good marketing network apart from wide distribution channels in place, it may not take time for Maa to find shelf space in modern retail outlets as well, he pointed out.

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