Naturals in talks with PEs to raise Rs 100 crore

Hair and beauty chain Naturals is in talks with private equity fund companies to raise Rs 100 crore as it plans to expand its footprint across the country.
The company, which has 350 outlets in South India out of total of 404 outlets in the country, plans to have 3,000 saloons in the country in by end of year 2017.
"We are in talks with few private equity (PE) players to help us fund our expansion plan. We are looking at raising Rs 100 crore from PEs. Rest we will invest from internal accruals," Naturals CEO & Co-founder C K Kumaravel told PTI.

Kumaravel added that the focus of the company is in North India now as it opens new outlets. "There is huge opportunity in North India. Out of 3,000 outlets we plan by year 2017, 2,000 will be in North India and rest in South India," he said.
All new salons will be based on franchise model, he said.
The company today signed a MoU With Indian Overseas Bank for providing financial assistance to women interested in setting up Naturals' salon.
The company is also looking at opening its saloons in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries.
"We want to set up 200 Naturals saloons in 5 years in GCC countries. Twenty salons in Gulf countries will be operational soon," Kumaravel added.