Private equity major Blackstone Group has said that it is investing Rs 243 crore ($44 million) in S.H. Kelkar & Co. Pvt Ltd, a manufacturer of fragrances and flavours. The Mumbai-based firm had raised funding from Wayzata Investment Partners back in 2010.
VCCircle was the first to report that S.H. Kelkar was in talks for a new round of funding and closed a deal with Blackstone.
Keynote Corporate Services Ltd was the advisor for this transaction.
S.H. Kelkar supplies a variety of specialty fragrance and flavour ingredients to leading FMCG companies in India and abroad, and caters to around 2,000 customers. The company aims to consolidate its position in India besides expanding its presence in the global markets, according to a statement.
S.H. Kelkar Group is led by Ramesh Vaze (chairman), B. Ramkrishnan (chief executive officer) and Kedar Vaze (director & chief operating officer). It has three manufacturing units in India (two fragrance units in Maharashtra and one bulk aroma chemicals unit in Vapi, Gujarat) and a manufacturing unit in the Netherlands. Wayzata had invested $21 million in S.H. Kelkar in September 2010 through its Wayzata II Indian Ocean Fund.
S.H. Kelkar has sales offices across India, and has recently opened offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, for growing sales across South-east Asia. It also has four R&D units/creative centres in Mumbai, Bangalore, the Netherlands and Indonesia. The company has revenues topping $115 million and its promoters have been focused on the business of fragrances, flavours and aroma chemicals for nearly nine decades. A total of 45 per cent revenues of the firm come from overseas business, according to its website.
“SHK is intrinsic to India’s well-known FMCG brands that are used in everyone’s daily life. The company has unique intellectual property and a strong market presence for over eight decades. In the domestic fragrance market, SHK is the leader with a large customer base and is the only Indian player of scale. We are excited to partner with SHK management as we foresee a huge growth opportunity for SHK – both in domestic and other emerging markets, driven by the growth in personal consumption in India, Africa and South-east Asia,†said Akhil Gupta, senior managing director and chairman of Blackstone India.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)