Godrej officials Navroze J. Godrej (left) and Anil Mathur in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Sept. 11: Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing plans to acquire furniture manufacturing companies in the UK and the US.

The company today unveiled a unified brand called Godrej Interio, which has been formed by merging all the sub-brands in its furniture and interior business. It has also outlined a Rs 500-crore expansion plan for its flagship division. The company currently sells its home furniture under the Perfect Home brand, office furniture under Godrej Formula ‘S’ Office and laboratory furniture under G Lab.

“We are planning to acquire two furniture manufacturing companies, one each in the US and the UK. We are in talks with three companies in the UK and two in the US,” said Anil S. Mathur, chief operating officer, furniture and interiors group, Godrej & Boyce. According to Mathur, the company has earmarked between Rs 100 crore and Rs 150 crore for each of these buyouts, which will also include acquiring brands and manufacturing facilities of the target companies.

“Such overseas acquisitions will not only increase our manufacturing capacity, it will also give us a technological and design edge,” said Navroze J. Godrej, the 24-year-old scion of the Godrej family, who has joined the business a year ago. According to Godrej, the acquisitions would be made before the end of this fiscal.

According to Godrej, the company is also in talks with two companies, one in the US and the other in the UK, for sharing their production facilities to manufacture Godrej furniture to cater to European and other developed markets. “From these leased manufacturing facilities, we will primarily make office furniture,” Godrej said.

The company already has production facility-sharing tie-ups in Malaysia, Singapore, Oman and Vietnam, where it manufactures steel storages for the Southeast Asian markets.

In India, Godrej & Boyce has four furniture manufacturing units in Mumbai. “Recently, we have set up one in Guwahati at an investment of Rs 21 crore. The plant has a manufacturing capacity of 150 cupboards a day,” said Mathur. “The eastern region contributes to about 15 per cent of total sales of the furniture and interiors group. In the home furniture segment, this region’s contribution is 27 per cent,” he added.

The company is planning to set up a manufacturing unit in Bengal in the next financial year to cater to the growing business from the eastern region. “We have already seen some places, such as Durgapur and Siliguri, where the plant could be set up. But we have not decided on a particular location yet,” Mathur said. The investment for the Bengal plant will be between Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore, he added.

The company is also planning to set up similar facilities in Pune and Chennai later on.