Extending reach

Mumbai, July 6: Wipro Ltd announced today that its consumer care and lighting division has acquired Unza, a Singapore-based FMCG company, for Rs 1,010.2 crore in an all-cash deal.

Unza Holdings, the largest personal care product company in Southeast Asia, clocked revenues of about Rs 683.3 crore during the financial year ended April 30. The transaction will be closed by month- end.

“Unza is a company which has been growing faster than the market. Our turnover would increase significantly with the acquisition. This will give us a lot more strength in terms of market addressal and it doubles our market addressal in GDP terms,” said Vineet Agarwal, president at Wipro’s Consumer Care.

Unza is the second acquisition by the company in less than a month. It recently acquired US-based information infrastructure management company EMC Corp to strengthen its foothold in the global infrastructure technology market.

Unza has operations in over 40 countries and manages 48 brands marketed through more than 58,000 retail outlets across Asia.

Enchanteur, Safi, Romano, and Izzi are some of the popular brands in the Unza stable apart from the two famous detergent brands, Vigor and Maxkleen. The company, with five plants in Malaysia, Vietnam, China and Indonesia, recorded a topline growth of 14 per cent in the last financial year.

“Wipro’s focus on quality initiatives, consumer research and processes will help Unza scale newer heights. We are excited by the prospect of working together and creating an even stronger position across Asian markets,” Unza managing director Gavin D Welman said.

Wipro’s consumer care business recorded revenues of about Rs 818 crore last year. The company said that its operating margin in consumer care products was similar to Unza’s at about 12 per cent.

It has been growing at a rate of over 31 per cent over the last three years.

Sources said the acquisition of Unza would raise Wipro’s turnover in the consumer care and lightning business significantly to about 85 per cent. The company would also be able to leverage 48 additional brands of body care, perfumes, deodorants and household cleaners across a larger number of countries.

Unza does not sell any of its products in India. Southeast Asia, West Asia and Sri Lanka are Unza’s key markets. Although the acquisition of Unza would add more revenues to Wipro’s balancesheet, it would not have any impact on the company’s domestic market.

StanChart PE and Actis hold about 60 per cent in Unza Holdings.

The announcement sent Wipro stocks up 3.02 per cent to close at Rs. 519.45 on the BSE today.