Expanding portfolio

New Delhi, June 26 (PTI): Calcutta-based Emami today said it was in talks with global FMCG giant Reckitt Benckiser to buy the personal care business of Paras Healthcare for an estimated deal size of up to Rs 900 crore.

Last year, British consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser had acquired Paras Pharmaceuticals for Rs 3,260 crore ($726 million). Emami was in the race to buy the Ahmedabad-based firm, which sells brands such as Moov, Krack and Dermicool.

“We have shown our interest in buying Paras’s personal care business. We are in talks with Reckitt Benckiser. They are planning to sell the personal care business of Paras, which is of the size of Rs 800-900 crore,” Emami executive chairman R.S. Agarwal said.

However, Reckitt Benckiser India chairman and managing director Chander Mohan Sethi refused to comment.

According to reports, Reckitt Benckiser is planning to sell Paras’s personal care business as it is keen to focus on the latter’s healthcare division.

Under the personal care portfolio, Paras Pharmaceuticals has been selling products such as Borosoft, Reconova, Livon, Set Wet and Zatak.

On the other hand, Emami has been looking to strengthen its personal care and healthcare segments and has been scouting for acquisitions that would be of a strategic fit to the company.

“Acquisitions are very important for us. We are in talks with a lot of companies, both outside and in India, for our future growth. Some talks abroad are shaping up but nothing concrete is happening right now,” Agarwal said.

It is likely that the company may announce at least one acquisition during this fiscal, he added, without naming any of the companies that it is currently in talks outside the country.

On how the company plans to fund the acquisition, Agarwal said the firm had enough capital. “It is not a problem. We have enough cash. We had earlier planned to buy Paras for over Rs 3,000 crore. So, buying only the personal care business should not be a problem,” he said.

Emami’s last acquisition was in 2008 when it bought Zandu Pharmaceuticals for around Rs 700 crore.