Emami acquires contorlling stake in Australian organic healthcare brands

Emami Ltd has made its first acquisition of foreign brand by taking controlling stake in Australian firm Fravin Pty Ltd along with its three subsidiaries for an undisclosed sum. The deal gives the Indian FMCG player access to a host of niche organic personal and healthcare brands. The acquisition of 66.67% stake in Fravin has been done through arm Emami International FZE.

Promoted by well-known trichologist Peter Francis, Fravin, has research and development facility in Adelaide, Australia and owns and produces range of products under umbrella brands like eco.kid, colour.pro range of hair colour, anti-aging stem cell based skin care products under Phyto-Stem.

It has hair and scalp care range under Abache Oraganics that uses either naturally occurring ingredients and those sourced from organic farms. Despite having products in the potential organic personal care category certified by bodies in the US and elsewhere, the brands are mostly restricted to Australia and Emami would now pump in funds to take these brands penetrate Europe and the US markets as well, Emami director Harsh Agarwal told dna.

"Fravin has been doing pioneering work on technologies like anti-ageing serums and its leading brand Abache Organics recently got the first prize in the green formulations category at the sustainable beauty awards 2014 in Paris. Having requisite clearances, the brands have significant potential to make inroads in the EU and the US markets, which so far hasn't happened due to paucity of funds," Agarwal said.

Emami has a modest global presence, marketing its personal and health care products across 60 countries, with primary focus in gulf and Middle East, CIS, Saarc, Africa and Southeast Asia regions and also in Europe where is presence is limited to few markets in the east.

Emami products are available in Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Itlay, UK, Greece, Hungary and Spain. Fravin's brands would also be brought to India at a later date though the company is yet to firm up its strategy.

"We have just concluded the deal and it is too early to comment in details on these issues. Demand for organic products are definitely growing and the market would continue to expand here with rise in disposable income, aspirational values and health concerns. These factors make launching these products in India a compelling proposition," Harsh said after signing the deal.

The deal marks a belated success for Emami which has been constantly looking for buyouts within and outside the country ever since its last major acquisition of Zandu in 2008. But all its subsequent efforts fell through notable being Paras Pharma's brands.