Reckitt & Colman spurns offer to buy Ezee, Trilo and Mediker brands
Anand Krishnamoorthy
NEW DELHI, January 4: Investment banker ING Barings has approached Reckitt and Colman India for the sale of "Ezee", "Trilo" and "Mediker" shampoo, after Godrej Soaps refused to buy back the detergents."We were approached by an investment banker to buy the three brands, but we are not interested in any of them," says managing director Ashok Pradhan, makers of the famous "Dettol" brand. ING Barings has been scouting around for a buyer for the detergents Ezee and Trilo and the Mediker shampoo since the $35-billion US consumer products giant Procter and Gamble (P&G) put them on the block. P&G had put these brands, of which Ezee and Trilo were acquired from Godrej Soaps, for sale in November-end. Market sources said the investment banker had already approached many companies to try and sell them.Pradhan said the country was a top priority market for the British parent company, Reckitt and Colman, and would be looking at acquiring a few brands this year for achieving speedy growth. "Though we are looking at
acquiring brands for speedy growth, none of these three brands that we were approached for interest us," Pradhan said.Reckitt, which last year entered into a 60:40 marketing joint venture with the Piramals for selling over-the-counter drugs (OTC), has already written to the investment banker expressing their lack of interest in buying these brands. This comes amid reports that Reckitt was contemplating purchase of the famous "Burnol" brand. The Cincinatti-based P&G acquired Ezee and Trilo in 1993 when it formed a marketing joint venture with Godrej Soaps. In 1996, however, it bought both these brands when the marketing alliance formally broke with Godrej accusing P&G of ignoring its brands. When the alliance broke apart, Godrej instead of buying back the brands chose to introduce the new liquid detergent "Dip". Procter and Gamble is now selling these brands to concentrate on `Ariel'. ING approached Godrej, which however, refused to buy back these brands with Godrej Soaps director Jamshyd N Godrej
saying the company was not interested. "The godrej soaps board (had once) made a conscious decision to sell these brands to P&G. Now we don't want to buy it back," Godrej told PTI. Ezee is a liquid detergent used for washing woollen and silk clothes, while Trilo is a lower-end detergent bar. Reckitt and Colman India, subsidiary of the London-based Reckitt and Colman plc, has in its stable products like Dettol, Robin Cloth Whitener, Disprin, Lizol, Mortein Mosquito Repellent and Cherry Shoe Polish. Pradhan said Reckitt has decided to focus on six core categories, including antiseptics, surface cleaners, pest control and lavatory care, and there would be increased advertisement spending this year in these areas. "Acquisitions, if any, this year will depend on whether the target product falls in any of these categories," Pradhan said. He said reckitt was looking at acquiring only those brands which could sustain themselves without any additional expenditure on advertisements.Reckitt is planning
product launches this year on the core areas, Pradhan added.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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