Wellness services and personal care company VLCC on Monday announced the acquisition of the direct selling business of Gurugram-based company Wellscience for an undisclosed amount.

The company, which will be rebranded as VLCC Wellscience, sells ayurvedic and herbal nutraceuticals supplements and personal care products catering to consumers across age groups. The acquisition also marks VLCC’s foray into the direct selling business as well as the nutraceuticals business.

In a statement, Mukesh Luthra, Chairman, VLCC Group, said the company was “extending its presence in the high-growth fast moving healthcare goods (FMHG) segment, with its foray into the nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals segment and retailing these products through the direct selling channel, which is an emerging opportunity given that the government of India has very recently clarified regulations governing this industry.”

He said this was in line with the company’s strategy to enter new and emerging categories in the beauty and wellness domain besides tapping into new channels of distribution to reach out to a larger set of customers.

“VLCC is already present in the FMHG segment with its VLCC Slimmer’s range of fortified/functional foods and expanding to nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals is a natural extension our products business”, he added.

Lajinder Bawa, the 20-year veteran of the direct selling industry, who established Wellscience in 2009, will continue lead the business as CEO of VLCC

Bawa said: “We believe that the brand values of Wellscience are in sync with the values of VLCC and this partnership will provide us the necessary thrust required for our next level of growth.”

According to a 2015 Assocham-RNCOS study, the FMHG segment is likely to touch the $6.1 billion mark by 2020 from the current level of $2.8 billion, growing at a CAGR of 17 per cent.

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