GODREJ Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) on Tuesday (January 1) said its UK-based subsidiary has acquired Colgate- Palmolive’s Soft & Gentle brand for an undisclosed amount.
Keyline Brands Ltd, the company’s UK-based unit, has acquired the Soft & Gentle brand from Colgate-Palmolive, GCPL said in a statement.
Soft & Gentle, which is the UK’s fourth largest female deodorant brand by market share, had posted sales of £21m ($34m) in 2011, it added.
‘The acquisition of Soft & Gentle by Keyline Brands will add profitable scale to our UK business. Over the last few years, Keyline Brands has delivered good performance and grown in double digits in very tough market environment that is witnessing little to no growth,’ GCPL Chairman Adi Godrej said.
The company said acquisition is being funded by low-cost debt and the impact on GCPL’s consolidated debt equity ratio is 0.03.
Godrej said the company’s UK business has historically had a higher mix of distributed brands than owned brands.
‘Strategically, we have been working on changing the mix towards owned brands and building more scale in the business. With the Soft & Gentle acquisition, the salience of owned brands will become greater than that of distributed brands,’ he added.
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