Dabur to merge foods biz with FMCG

Homegrown FMCG major Dabur India Limited (DIL) on Wednesday said it will merge its wholly-owned subsidiary Dabur Foods Limited (DFL) with itself.The Board of Directors of DIL approved the merger with retrospective effect from April 1, a company statement said.

"We believe this merger is a unique opportunity to combine the strengths of a foods company with those of a growing and profitable FMCG business to create an extraordinarily strong and rapidly growing global competitor in the health and wellness space," Dabur India CEO Sunil Duggal said.

He said DFL is an intrinsic part of DIL's growth strategy and has been one of the fastest growing businesses, reporting a 35 per cent CAGR for the past five years.Through the merger, DIL is looking to extract synergies and unlock operational efficiencies for DFL sharpen focus on the high growth business of foods and beverages, and enter newer product categories in this space, it added.

Dabur's Unza buyout plan faces hurdles

Dabur India’s proposed buyout of Singapore consumer goods company Unza is delicately poised, with the management resisting the Indian company’s takeover bid. It’s learnt that the private equity (PE) investors who own Unza may begin independent negotiations with other interested parties.

However, talks between Dabur and the PE investors — Actis and Standard Chartered — haven’t fallen through and the Indian FMCG company is hopeful of a breakthrough this week.

At around Rs 650-675 crore, it would be Dabur’s most expensive buy so far and the largest overseas deal in the consumers goods space. Unza, a $150-million company, is majority-owned by Actis and Standard Chartered.

Unza is South-East Asia’s independent manufacturer of personal care products with 48 brands in its portfolio and presence in five markets like China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Read more in The Economic Times article.