Global private equity heavyweight Carlyle has picked up around 70% stake in beauty and personal care entity, VLCC Health Care Ltd for a value in the range of $275-300 million, a person familiar with the development said.
Equity for this transaction will come from funds managed and advised by entities affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners Growth, a statement said.
It couldn’t be immediately ascertained if Everstone, an existing investor in VLCC, also sold stake in the company.
The investment will help VLCC in brand building, product expansion, scaling its pan-India digital and e-commerce distribution channels and expanding its local footprint of retail clinics, the statement further said.
“Carlyle shares our vision and plans for taking VLCC to its next level of growth. Carlyle’s global consumer sector experience, business partnership mindset, local market knowledge and its team make it the right partner to take our business to the next level,” said Vandana Luthra, founder of VLCC.
KPMG India acted as the sole transaction adviser to VLCC and its founders.
The company, launched in 1989, is widely known for its facial kits and has an extensive product portfolio across skincare and sun care products.
Providing aesthetic dermal treatments and weight management services across a network of 210 retail clinics in 118 cities and 11 countries in South Asia and Middle East and Africa (MENA) regions, VLCC also operates 100 skill development institutes in India, making it one of the largest providers of vocational training in the beauty and wellness sector in the country.
“We look forward to working with VLCC’s founders as we seek to strengthen the management team and draw on Carlyle’s global consumer experience and network of senior advisers,” said Amit Jain, managing director and co-head at Carlyle India Advisors.
Under the guidance of Carlyle, the VLCC board also appointed consumer retail industry veterans Gurveen Singh and J. Suresh as Independent Directors. While Singh has recently retired as chief human resources Officer at Reckitt Benckiser, Suresh was MD and CEO of Arvind Fashions Ltd in his last stint. The PE fund believed that the duo will provide strategic guidance for VLCC’s next phase of anticipated growth.
This investment underlines Carlyle's bullishness on the country's potential for domestic consumption growth among the rising middle class.
The private equity giant, had last year picked up significant minority stake in tiles and bathware maker Varmora Granito Pvt. Ltd.
Carlyle claims it has invested more than $5.5 billion of equity in over 40 transactions in India as of 30 September, 2022. Globally, the investment firm has committed nearly $25 billion of equity funding in over 135 deals in the consumer, media and retail sector during the same period.
