Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has acquired the 49% stake it didn’t already own in Kenya-based Charm Industries.
The consumer goods maker didn’t disclose the amount it paid to increase its stake to 100% in a stock market disclosure on Tuesday, saying only that the deal was in cash.
An email query to GCPL seeking more details about the deal didn’t elicit a response by the time of filing this report.
Charm Industries is part of African hair-care company Darling Group Holdings, in which GCPL had acquired 51% stake in 2011. Darling Group sells hair extension products under the brands Darling and Amigos. In February last year, GCPL signed a pact with the Darling Group to hike its stake in its two units in South Africa and Mozambique to 90%.
The deal is part of GCPL’s strategy to scale up its wet hair care business in East Africa using the Strength of Nature brands, the company mentioned in the filing.
This is one of the several deals struck by GCPL in Africa this year. In April, it had acquired Strength of Nature LLC (SON), a hair-care products company for women of African descent. SON is a US-based firm with significant presence in Africa and the Caribbean.
Prior to that, Godrej increased its stake in DGH Phase Two Mauritius, which owns Kenya’s Style Industries Ltd, to 90% from 51% for an undisclosed amount in cash.
In February, GCPL acquired a 75% stake in Kenyan home- and personal-care products maker Canon Chemicals Ltd for an undisclosed amount.
In a prior interaction with VCCircle, Vivek Gambhir, managing director of Godrej Consumer, said that the company was looking at large-sized transactions in Africa, where it has annualised revenues of about $200 million.
The Mumbai-based company has previously made several other acquisitions overseas. Last year, it bought the remaining 40% stake in Chilean hair colour cosmetics company Cosmetica Nacional for an undisclosed amount. GCPL had acquired 60% stake in the cosmetics company in 2012.
It also agreed to acquire the hair extension business of the South Africa-based Frika Hair (Pty) Ltd for an undisclosed amount last year.
Besides hair-care products, GCPL makes household and other personal-care products under brands such as Good Knight, Cinthol, Godrej No. 1, Hit, Fairglow, Ezee and Protekt.
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