Tilaknagar Industries Ltd, maker of brandy brands Mansion House and Courrier Napoleon, has acquired Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brands of Kolkata-based liquor and marine products firm IFB Agro Industries Ltd for an undisclosed amount, according to a stock market statement.
With the acquisition, Tilaknagar Industries has brought into its fold IFB Agro's vodka brand 'Volga' and 'Blue Lagoon' gin - two of the most popular brands in the eastern Indian markets of West Bengal, Assam and Odisha.
The acquisition would help Tilaknagar Industries diversify its portfolio as well as strengthen its presence in eastern India.
“This is an EBITDA accretive acquisition for us. We are focused more on profitable volumes and the acquisition of IFB Agro's IMFL business will give us access to a profitable product line. Coming as a dominant IMFL player of South Indian market, we will now consolidate our position in eastern Indian markets too. We hope to enhance sales of the newly acquired brands to one million cases per annum and improve our topline by over 10 per cent," Laxmi Narasimhan, deputy managing director of Tilaknagar Industries, said.
As per the agreement, Tilaknagar Industries will also take over all the employees working with the IMFL division to IFL Agro.
IFB Agro is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of extra neutral alcohol, IMFL, bottling of branded alcoholic beverages as well as processed and packed marine foods both for domestic & export markets.
The IMFL division of IFB Agro has two manufacturing units in Kolkata. The division owns brands like Leonov, Volga, Ruski (vodka) Gold Cup, Benjamin (brandy), Jubilation (Rum), Blue Lagoon (Gin), 3 Cheers (Whisky) and Baluba (Rum). It also bottles brands such as Smirnoff for Diageo for eastern region and other brands for United Spirits, now partly owned by Diageo.
During the quarter ended on December 31, 2013, IFB Agro posted revenues of Rs 129 crore with net profit of Rs 9.03 crore. Around 60 per cent of its revenues come from liquor and spirits business.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
