Godrej looks to emerging markets for further personal care acquisitions

Godrej Consumer Products is planning future acquisitions in the emerging markets in order to grow in the personal wash, hair care and household care categories.

The emerging markets of Asia, Africa and South America could provide good acquisition targets due to their fast growth and their similarity to Indian market demographics, a spokesperson for the company told CosmeticsDesign.com USA.

Godrej has a ‘three by three’ acquisitions strategy, the spokesperson said, focusing on the three core categories of household care, hair care and personal wash, as well as the three markets of Asia (including India), Africa and South America.

While no details could be given about potential candidates, the spokesperson said the company had a number of ways to finance future projects, including debt and equity.

In addition, at the recent India Economic Summit, company chairman Adi Godrej spoke about future acquisition strategies. According to the Indian newspaper The Economic Times, Godrej said the company would be making two to three acquisitions in the next 12 months.

South American and African expansion

This year has also seen a number of acquisitions for the company, with the purchase of a Nigerian beauty brand and two Argentine hair care companies, Issue Group and Argencos.

The Nigerian beauty brand Tura was purchased in March from the Tura Group and the move was designed to open up new product categories in Nigeria as well as other West African countries.

Hair color company Issue Group was acquired back in June and has over 20 per cent of market share in Argentina, according to Godrej, in addition to a strong position in Uruguay and Paraguay.

Shortly following the Issue Group acquisition, the company announced it had acquired Argencos, a hair color, treatment and styling products manufacturer with brands such as Roby and 919.