Mid-market private equity firm Samara Capital has inked its second deal in the personal care segment in the space of a week.
The homegrown buyout specialist said in a statement on Tuesday that it has bought a 50% stake in Delhi-based cosmetics firm Blue Heaven for an undisclosed amount.
The development comes days after it backed Nature's Essence Pvt. Ltd, which sells skincare and haircare products.
Blue Heaven will use the capital for marketing and distribution purposes and consolidation of group entities, the statement added.
“We are seeing a strong demand for our products and felt a need to institutionalise the company and its operations to be able to keep meeting the expectations of our customers and stakeholders,” said Charanjit Singh, one of the promoters of Blue Heaven Cosmetics.
The firm was launched in 2002 by Charanjit Singh and Gurnam Singh. Its product portfolio includes the entire range of makeup products such as eyeliner, mascara, lipstick and foundation, among others.
The company claimed that it had generated consolidated sales of more than Rs 160 crore by the end of the recently-concluded financial year and has been growing at over 15% per annum.
“Within the exciting colour cosmetics space, Blue Heaven as a brand stands apart and almost alone in its market,” said Gautam Gode, managing director at Samara Capital.
Mumbai-based Ethos Capital Advisors acted as the financial advisor for the transaction.
Samara Capital
Samara Capital’s twin bets in the personal care segment come on the back of a year in which it stepped on the gas with a number of deals in sectors such as retail and logistics.
The PE firm was founded in late-2006 by former top Citigroup India executives Sumeet Narang and Gautam Gode. Samara makes its investments from two funds and typically puts in $15-100 million in a single transaction. It raised $263 million for its first fund and $300 million for its second fund.
Last October, Samara grabbed the headlines for signing a pact along with e-commerce major Amazon to acquire More, the food and grocery retail chain of Aditya Birla Retail Ltd.
Samara has struck a number of deals via the platform route, which gives it more control over the outcome of its transactions.
For instance, in 2018, human resources investment firm First Meridian, in which Samara, Goldman Sachs and Janchor Partners are co-investors, bought three companies within four months of launching.
In October, Samara-backed Oaknet Healthcare Pvt. Ltd bought some brands of the Indian unit of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
Samara had used Oaknet to acquire the India business of Johannesburg-listed drugmaker Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd for Rs 151 crore in April 2016.
The PE firm, along with Xponentia Fund Partners, acquired Spoton Logistics Pvt. Ltd last year.
VCCircle recently reported that Samara Capital may hit the market to raise fresh capital for a new investment vehicle that would make long-term bets.
