Godrej & Boyce executive director Phiroze D. Lam (left) with Navroze J. Godrej during the launch of EON range of frost-free refrigerators for the eastern market in Calcutta. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury.

Calcutta, Sept. 16: Godrej & Boyce is aiming at overseas acquisitions as part of its growth plan.

Shortly after announcing it is in talks with a few US and UK firms for a couple of acquisitions for its furniture business, which is now unified under the brand Godrej & Boyce, executive director and president Phiroze D. Lam said the company is also eyeing overseas buyouts for its industrial equipment business.

“We are talking to a couple of companies in Sweden and Spain for our forklift business. As of now, we rank 36 in the world in industrial equipment business. In five years we want to be among the top 10,” Lam said.

However, he clarified that Godrej & Boyce is looking at acquisitions in the range of $100 million and $150 million. “We are looking at smaller buys abroad. Adi Godrej has also announced several overseas acquisitions that are relatively small,” Lam said.

The company will also open its offices in China and Texas this year. It already has presence in Dubai, Malyasia, Vietnam, Oman and Singapore.

Godrej & Boyce has launched its EON range of frost-free refrigerators for the eastern market, which the company claims will set a new benchmark for the refrigerator market and take its sales to a new high. Priced between Rs 16,000 and Rs 26,000, the DFE range comes with many new features and designs.

“We have already applied for patents of two technologies — wire shelf ice hanger and cool shower — and five designs have gone into the making this range. Its capacity starts from 245 litre and goes up to 350 litre,” said George Menezes, chief operating officer (appliances division) of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd. The company has spent about Rs 35 crore to develop and promote this model. “We hope to increase our market share to 25 per cent from 12 per cent with the EON range,” Menezes said.

With the sales of frost-free refrigerators in the country growing at a rate of 25 per cent per annum compared with a 7-8 per cent in direct-cool segment, Godrej is planning to increase its refrigerator manufacturing capacity by 5 million within one year from the current capacity of 10 lakh units a year.