Cuticura owners block Godrej acquisition bid

The Cholayil family had acquired the India rights for the brand in 2002.

When Godrej Consumer announced in October this year that it had acquired UK-based Keyline brands marking its first overseas acquisition, most people had not heard about the company.

However, when its portfolio of brands was mentioned, almost everyone in India was familiar with atleast one of the brands "� Cuticura.

The brand, which once upon a time was synonymous with talcum powder in India, is interestingly not owned by Godrej in India but by Chennai-based Cholayil Pharma through its subsidiary, Dorcas Market Makers.

Although Godrej is keen on acquiring the brand in India, the Cholayil family does not want to sell it. "We have contacted the company," Adi Godrej, chairman and managing director, Godrej Consumer, told Business Standard. "But they are not keen on selling the brand."

M C Anand Kumar, senior vice-president "� sales and marketing, Dorcas, says that there are no plans to sell the brand whose performance they are quite happy with.

"We have had fairly gratifying results since the relaunch," he said, declining to disclose any numbers. Cholayil had acquired the brand from Muller & Phipps in 2002 after which it was relaunched in April this year.

This could be a bit of a blow to Godrej which intends to introduce some of the newly acquired brands in India. In this context, having India rights to Cuticura would have been a big advantage as it has an over 80 year history and brand recall with a large number of consumers.

An analyst points out that the amount paid to Keyline does not include the India rights to Cholayil and hence would not really make much of a difference to the company.

Meanwhile, Kumar says that plans to extent the brand beyond the southern markets are still on and that they plan to have pan-India presence before the summer of 2006.

There are also plans to extend the brand portfolio and this could possibly mean bringing in the hand hygiene business which is part of the brand globally.

REARGUARD AUCTION

• The Cuticura brand is not owned by Godrej in India but by Chennai-based Cholayil Pharma
• Cholayil's refusal to sell the brand could be a blow to Godrej which intends to introduce newly acquired brands in the country
• The buying of the Cuticura brand would have been a big advantage for Godrej as it has an over 80-yr history and brand recall