Tough times ahead for premium hotels in India

An edited version of this story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, September 11, 2012.

India's premium hotel operators (five-star, five-star deluxe and above) are in for challenging times in the next couple of years. As per Crisil Research, profitability of premium hotels is likely to plunge to levels that will be the lowest in the last decade. The analysis is based on business performance assessment of the premium hotel segment across 12 Indian cities that collectively account for 80% of India's premium hotel rooms.

As global economic slowdown affects both business and leisure travel, according to Binaifer Jehani, director, Crisil Research, annual demand growth for premium hotel rooms is likely to stay subdued at 7% in 2012-13 and 2013-14. "The slowing demand growth will coincide with large additions of rooms. We expect 14,500 new rooms to be added by 2013-14 to the existing 46,200 rooms as a result occupancy levels of premium hotels will fall from 64% in 2011-12 to 56% in 2013-14," said Jehani.

Fighting a host of challenges including slowing demand growth, rising costs, large-scale room additions leading to decline in occupancy levels and average room rates, the premium hotels segment will see operating margins drop to just over 16% in financial year 2013-14. This, according to Crisil, will be the lowest in 10 years as a similar drop was witnessed back in 2002-03 and 2003-2004 post 9/11 terror attack and the SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak.

“The margins had dropped to 16-17% during that period, as travel advisories were issued by various countries thus sparking a drastic fall in demand. However, that fall was temporary and margins recovered to their earlier levels of 30-35%. This time around though, the recovery will be slower. A continued oversupply, at least till 2015-16, will maintain the pressure on profitability of premium hotels,” Jehani said adding that operating margins will, dip from around 24% in 2011-12 to slightly over 16% in 2013-14.

However, Dilip Puri, managing director - India and regional vice president - South Asia, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd, feels it is incorrect to generalise trends across the whole country. "While there is pressure on margins, I do not believe they will plunge to levels as indicated in the report. At Starwood, we have institutionalised many learnings from the recession of 2008/9 and now have more efficient cost structures in place to withstand the temporary dip in business we are seeing presently. The markets that will see considerable pressure are those where there is likely to be a significant increase in supply, specifically Chennai and Delhi (with DIAL hotels).”

Officials from other domestic and international premium hotel chains like Taj, Oberoi, Leela, ITC, Marriott, Hilton, Accor, etc were not available for a comment.

However, P R S Oberoi, chairman, East India Hotels (owners and operators of The Oberoi and Trident hotel brands), in his address to shareholders last month had said that while occupancy levels were maintained, room rates have shown a downward trend. "Due to the expanding presence of new international brands, supply has exceeded demand in the luxury segment in several cities," Oberoi had said.

Increased room inventory across various markets has already intensified competition and aggravated the demand-supply imbalance prevailing in the segment. As a result, average room rates (ARR) for premium hotels, which are already under pressure, are set to further dip by about 10% in 2011-12 and 2013-14. The fall in occupancy rates and room rates is likely to precipitate a sharp decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR), the revenue from rooms occupied divided by the number of rooms available. "The average RevPAR for premium hotels will plummet from Rs 5,000 per day in 2011-12 to Rs 3,900 per day in 2013-14," said Crisil Research.

Of the 12 cities being analysed, it is expected that 10 of them will see decline in RevPAR. While cities like Ahmedabad and Chennai are set to be impacted the most with an annual decline of over 20%, premium hotels in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, National capital Region (NCR), Jaipur and Kochi will register a fall of 15% annually. Markets like Agra will see stable RevPAR due to limited room additions while it will marginally increase in Goa.

The research house further added that decline in RevPAR will erode the profitability of premium hotels, as room revenues make up almost two third of their total revenues. Rising costs will add to the pressure on profitability. A shortage of personnel will increase employee costs, whereas energy costs are also expected to rise significantly.

ITC dares Mukesh Ambani, picks up more in EIH

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, September 11, 2012.

It was in January 2009 that ITC last picked up a stake in EIH – which was 0.5%.

Since then, the PRS Oberoi-promoted hotels chain has had a few looking-over-the-shoulder moments. Was ITC chairman Yogesh Chander Deveshwar the proverbial predator at the gate?

The build-up of anxiety was enough for hospitality’s doyen to bring in a white knight – the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, in August 2010.

The company now holds 18.53% stake, and Mukesh’s wife Nita and confidante Manoj Modi are members of the EIH board.

Yet that hasn’t stopped Deveshwar and ITC, through its investment arm Russel Credit, from increasing its stake by 1% or 57.38 lakh shares on Monday, to 15.98%.

The Rs41.89 crore purchase was made through HSBC Bank (Mauritius) Ltd in a bulk deal on Monday wherein Russel Credit paid Rs73 per share.

EIH shares closed at Rs79.35 after reaching an intra-day high of Rs81.45.

In the January-March quarter of 2009, ITC’s holding in EIH increased from 14.96% (from April-June 2008) to 14.98%.

ITC’s stake then was a whisker under the open offer trigger of 15% set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) until August 2011 post which threshold was increased to 25%.

Deveshwar’s renewed interest in the hospitality business is evident from the fact that Russel Credit has been accumulating shares in Hotel Leelaventure Ltd during the April - June quarter of 2012, increasing ITC’s holding by 1.1% to 13.98% as of August 2012.

Industry experts ruled out ITC’s increased shareholding in EIH Ltd as an attempt to gradually pursue hostile takeover considering RIL is already on board as a white knight. “ITC can never take on RIL’s financial muscle. It’s just not possible. Can’t say the same about Hotel Leelaventure though considering Capt. Nair is reeling under the financial pressure with mounting debt on the company’s books,” said a leading hospitality consultant requesting not to be identified.

ITC spokesperson did not comment on the development. The management has however, maintained in the past that buying into hotel company stocks is part of its treasury operations and has nothing to do with hostile takeover.

Commenting on ITC’s hotel stock buying spree, Homi S Aibara, partner, Mahajan & Aibara Management Consultants (a hospitality, travel and tourism industry focused consultancy firm), said, “Majority of the hotel sector stocks are hugely undervalued currently and are nowhere close to the company’s underlying value of assets owned by them. I would have bought hotel stocks too, if I had such a huge treasury operation.”

Earlier in March 2012, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries had bought out Max Group chairman Analjit Singh’s 3.73% stake in EIH Ltd. Singh’s investment firms Gaylord Impex and Pivet Finances had sold all the 21,315,000 EIH shares in a bulk deal to RIL subsidiary Reliance Industries Investment and Holding Pvt Ltd at Rs90 a piece valuing the deal to Rs191.83 crore. RIL current holding has now increased to 18.53% from 14.8% before.

People buy Samsonite to experience the brand promise

Ramesh Tainwala

This Q&A first appeared in DNA Money edition on Wednesday, September 12, 2012.

Ramesh Tainwala's association with the luggage industry goes much beyond the 15 years he has spent with Samsonite. His first brush with the industry was as one of the suppliers for Indian luggage major VIP Industries, eventually paving his way to take reins of the US luggage major's operations as president of Asia Pacific and Middle East region. He shares views on the Indian luggage market, market perception of the brand, recent acquisitions and expansion plans. Edited excerpts...

Samsonite is perceived to be very expensive brand. Are you doing anything to possibly change that perception in the market?

We are quite happy with that perception and do not want to dilute that brand image in the consumer's mind. Samsonite is our top-end offering and is supposed to be a prestigious and innovative brand. Any new technology that we develop is first launched under the Samsonite brand and gets launched with other brands after a gap of a over a couple of years.

There is certain level of expectation in a customer's mind and many a times we have noticed that they know the product will be expensive when they walk into the store. People are buying the brand to ultimately experience the brand promise. In fact, there are times when consumers are pleasantly surprised to know that we have an entire range of bags (depending on their definition of affordability) starting from Rs 5,000 going up to Rs 35,000 and beyond. Using a Samsonite branded bag also communicates the individual's social status and we want them to flaunt it.

The urban middle and upper middle class buyer is being targeted through the American Tourister bags starting from Rs 1,000 going up to Rs 6,000. The product delivers the same quality and functionality as Samsonite. And we have now launched a new brand called AT, which is the rural cousin of American Tourister and is sold at 30-40% premium over unbranded luggage. The AT products are priced from the Rs 800 to Rs 2,500 and is aimed at migrating people from buying unbranded luggage.

So there are different brands catering to target audience and that is precisely how we think it should be.

Is VIP Industries a strong competitor considering it is almost addressing the same set of consumers?

VIP remains a formidable competitor as they have certain inherent strengths. Their market share is almost same as Samsonite in terms of value. The only differentiation is they concentrate more at the lower-end of the target audience while our focus is premium. We reach out to 85-odd towns and cities with 2,500 doors while they are anywhere and everywhere with over 13,000 doors. It will take us 3-5 years to reach as many doors as VIP has but we are not in a hurry. We do not want to compete at the lower-end but help people migrate to high and premium segment and the strategy is working for us.

Could you throw some light on the Indian luggage market and its growth trajectory?

The size of the luggage market in India is Rs 5,000 crore growing at a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of 15-16% since the last five years. The year 2011 was a very exciting period for the Indian luggage industry which witnessed almost 35% growth thanks to the overall boom witnessed across sectors and especially travel including airline travel. Consumer sentiments is weak in 2012 as a result growth in travel and luggage industry has come down to 8%. However, if you average out the growth in the last 5 years, it would be in the 15-16% bracket.

What is your analysis of the buying trend in the Indian market these days?

Buying trend is slowly shifting to organised / modern retail irrespective of whether we open the market for global retailers or not. The mom-n-pop stores as we call it, are on a self destructive path and we don't have to blame Wal-Mart or Carrefour for that. People have less time, want to shop in more convenient environment and do not have the capability to haggle. They want to buy on an announced sale and will buy when such opportunities (discounted sale) are being offered in the market.

How are the margins like in this business?

It depends from channel to channel and can vary from 10-15% in small stores to 15-30% in case of bigger department stores. Margins also depend on the other retailer's buying / negotiating power.

What is the contribution of company owned and operated (CoCo), franchise stores and modern retail to India business? And how many stores do you have currently?

It's a third each I'd say. The 150 CoCos are largely operated in Tier I and select Tier II cities. Tapping the market beyond these cities is done through 300-odd franchisee stores. The modern retail has over the last few years grown significantly for us and also enjoys the same ratio. We envisage considerable increase in the number of CoCos going forward as a host of markets have grown in size and buying power thereby qualifying to be covered by company outlets.

What are your retail expansion plans in this fiscal?

Our internal plan is to add 50-odd doors every year. Thus, if we are adding those many we also face mortality rate of 5% odd, which means we also close 5-10 outlets. So the net addition is around 40-odd outlets every year. Going by that definition, in three years time we will move up to around 250 doors. On an average our expected investment in the next three years is around Rs 50 crore to be funded through internal accruals.

Could you take us through some of the recent inorganic initiatives?

Sure. Samsonite International has recently acquired a luxury brand called Hartmann, which is into luggage and leather goods targeted at the ultra premium customers. The starting point for a piece of luggage under this brand is $2,000 going up to $15,000 - $20,000. We are still to launch it in the Indian market though as the brand will have a very limited scope hence a very selective approach will be adopted by launching just 3-5 Hartmann stores in India.

High Sierra is another acquisition we have done in the US. This is a casual and adventure wear company with urban active lifestyle products like T-shirts, flip-flops, backpacks, adventure luggage and sports bags. This acquisition help us strategically extend the brand portfolio into the active outdoor lifestyle category and will be targeted at the young segment in the 16 to 35 year age group and positioned between Samsonite and American Tourister with a price range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000.

What is the response for your footwear products?

Footwear is an interesting category and we are still in the learning stage with it. We'd launched it initially with a three year learning phase to be followed by it becoming a profit making category. We are in the sixth year currently and we are yet to take it to the next growth stage.

Having said that, we are confident that this will become a profit making category in the years to come as there are lot of similarities in the overall processes and approach to running a luggage and footwear business. The differences in case of footwear is the cycle of new launches and different sizes. New footwear range needs to be launched every six months as compared to 2-3 years for luggage products.

How is the travel to non-travel ratio in the company?

Non-travel currently is 35% and the balance is travel. However, we are working to increase non-travel to 50% thereby creating equal ratio between the two categories.

Treofan Germany to acquire Max Specialilty Films for Rs 540 crore

Max India founder and chairman Analjit Singh will raise Rs 540 crore by selling Max Speciality Films (MSF) to Treofan Germany GmbH & Co - a German global technology leader for biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film. The decision to sell, company management said, is in line with the group's strategy to focus on service oriented businesses of life.

Analjit Singh, chairman, Max India Ltd said MSF was the oldest business in the group's portfolio. "MSF has been a well run business since many years now, a quality leader with a highly competent leadership team and a highly motivated workforce. Its divestment made good business sense to focus on our portfolio of service oriented businesses of life,” Singh said in a media statement.

The company's board in a meeting held on Monday approved the proposal for sale of 100% equity to Treofan. The sale, however, is subject to financing, a material adverse change clause, confirmatory due diligence, execution of mutually satisfactory sale and purchase agreements, management retention, formal approval from Treofan’s Advisory Board and receipt of regulatory and corporate approvals.

Max India generated revenues of around Rs 8,200 crore in FY12 across all its businesses, which in addition to MSF includes Max Life (the largest private life insurer in India); Max Healthcare (focused on providing tertiary specialties in North India with1900 beds ); Max Bupa (dedicated health insurance business with more than 300,000 lives covered); Max Neeman, focused on Clinical Research; and Antara, a recently announced investment in the senior living business.

Rahul Khosla, managing director, Max India said the expertise and access to global customers through the new parent Treofan will elevate MSF business to the growth trajectory they truly deserve. "For Max India, this divestment will allow us to focus on our synergistic service focused businesses of life and the additional funds will provide us several options to invest in our growth," he said.

Established in 1990, MSF is a manufacturer of flexible polymer films for multitudinous applications in food, non food, and industrial packaging, leather coating films. Last year, the company registered revenue of Rs 703 crore, a growth of 77% over its revenue in the previous fiscal. According to company statement, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) also witnessed an increase of 50% over previous fiscal to reach Rs 77 crore.

MSF was being approached for a buyout by several global players, said Mohit Talwar, deputy managing director, Max India. "However we decided to progress further with Treofan, as we believe they are the natural owners of the business,” he said.

Treofan develops and sells BOPP films in over 90 countries around the world has production facilities in Europe and the Americas. MSF with a BOPP capacity of approximately 50,000 tonnes per annum (TPA), it is one of the leading Indian players in development and manufacture of specialty BOPP films, including multilayer white opaque films, ultra high barrier metalized plain films and leather finishing foils. Its products are used by leading players in food packaging, overwrapping, consumer products, labels and textile industries.

Subodh Kant Sahai promises infrastructure status to Indian hospitality industry

Subodh Kant Sahai, union minister of tourism, while addressing the 47th Annual Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) convention has promised to help the Indian hospitality industry acquire the much required ‘infrastructure’ industry status.

“I have met the the union finance minister, P Chidambaram recently and have raised the issue of granting infrastructure status to the hotel and restaurant industry. I have also been discussing this with the infrastructure committee and promise that the anomalies present in the current status of infrastructure to the industry will be removed,” said Sahai.

FHRAI has been demanding infrastructure status for the industry which is highly capital intensive, with large sunk costs and long gestation periods. The steady increase in borrowing costs, over the past few years, is not only undermining the financial viability of individual projects across the country, but is clouding the investment horizon for the entire sector. The tourism industry, one of the largest employment generators in the country, earns valuable foreign exchange for the economy and is a significant contributor to the national GDP.

Kamlesh Barot, president, FHRAI, said, that the minister's assurance has come as a big relief to the industry. "The list of infrastructure status which has been notified by the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has only included ‘Three-star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with population of more than one million’. This unreasonable restriction seriously limits the intended beneficial impact of this policy initiative by excluding a majority of our industry from within its purview. We hope that the corrective measures by the minister will result into a big boost to the industry,” said Barot.

Indian government may consider plain packaging for cigarettes

An edited version of this story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday, September 6, 2012. 

The Indian government is considering plain packaging of cigarettes in line with new Australian laws that ban all logos and brand descriptions, a top health official in New Delhi said on Wednesday.

"It is a good idea and can be pursued," Amal Pushp, director of tobacco control at the health ministry, told AFP. "We are watching the developments in Australia with interest." His comments came after Australian and Indian health experts presented a report by the University of Melbourne that found 275 million Indians use tobacco, leading to nearly one million deaths a year. India's health ministry welcomed the report and said that plain packaging as adopted by Australia could be taken up.

The approach, industry experts said, though aimed at curtailing consumption of cigarettes, will not really serve the purpose. Avi Mehta, analyst, IIFL Institutional Equities, while noting the concerns / impact of plain packaging norms on cigarette volumes and in turn on valuations of Indian companies, feels volume growth is unlikely to be impacted.

"With around 70% of sales made through loose cigarettes in India, we believe volume growth is unlikely to be impacted materially by any such potential changes. Further, multiple tailwinds (reducing price elasticity of cigarette volumes, launch of sub-65mm cigarette) would aid volume growth. This was seen in first quarter (1Q) when cigarette volumes were flat year on year (YoY) despite a sharp 12-15% increase in prices," Mehta said in his recent note on ITC Ltd.

Starting December 2012, tobacco products in Australia will be sold in drab, uniform packaging with graphic health warnings in a ground-breaking move that has attracted worldwide interest. In plain packaging, graphic warnings are retained but all colour, imagery and corporate logos are taken off to reduce the appeal of smoking, especially among youngsters. Manufacturers, however, will be allowed to print only the brand name on the pack in a limited font size.

Though a similar legislation is yet to hit India, industry experts said that it is not really a new phenomenon and that cigarette companies were completely aware of something like this coming by for a while now. While there have been increasing restrictions on promotion and marketing of tobacco products, companies have and are trying various things to compensate or cope with this reality.

“If you look at ITC, it's not just a cigarette making company anymore and has processed food, personal care, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), packaging, hotels, stationery etc as part of its business. So while a large part of the company's profits still come from cigarettes, revenues from other verticals will eventually compensate for the decline in profits from the tobacco / cigarettes business,” said a top official from one of the leading FMCG companies.

However, the question to ask now is that as things get more and more stringent, what will be its impact on the business and what will these companies do to deal with it?

Anand Halve, co-founder, Chlorophyll (a brand and communications consultancy firm), said, "As packaging becomes more and more uninviting, the brand image premium will collapse. However, the human beast wants to smoke, drink, have sex and gamble and, these businesses are not at all going away," he said.

It's a fact that people are completely aware of the harmful effects of consuming things like tobacco, alcohol, drugs etc. They seek such products for various reasons including to beat stress / seek relaxation, as a style statement, considered part of growing up, machismo etc. "If somebody want to consume alcohol or smoke a cigarette, s/he will have it, come what may and that's the reality," said a marketing / branding official from a leading domestic firm.

Attempts are ongoing for many years to create awareness about health concerns arising from use of these products from government and non-government organisations. As a result it has also been observed that there is a long-term trend wherein the consumption of such products is declining. However, it is known fact that people are still finding it very difficult to give up completely.

"The tobacco industry uses attractive packaging and aggressive marketing to lure people," K Srinath Reddy, president of independent research group the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), told AFP adding that, "India must initiate legislation on plain packaging, which would have tremendous public health impact."

In 2009, India began printing graphic health warnings on cigarette packets and other tobacco products. One image attracted widespread publicity as it used an apparent picture of England footballer John Terry with a superimposed set of blackened lungs.

Santosh Desai, MD and CEO, Futurebrands, feels a legislation (similar to those proposed in Australia) if implemented will certainly impact the desirability of smoking as an overall category in the long run. "However, will it really change the competitive landscape by acting more strongly against the dominant brands and whether that is what the regulation should be all about is an open question," said Desai.

Kempinski Hotels to re-enter India with Ambience

Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, September 04, 2012.

Third time lucky! Kempinski Hotels appears to be betting as it prepares to re-enter the Indian hospitality market.

This time around, however, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group has taken the management contract route as opposed to the marketing alliance approach it had taken twice earlier with Capt C P Krishnan Nair’s The Leela Group.

After parting ways with Leela in February this year, Kempinski has joined hands with Delhi-based Ambience Group.

A real estate development company focused on premium developments primarily in the National Capital Region, Ambience will own the hotel asset while Kempinski will manage its day-to-day operations.

Branded Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi, the property in east Delhi, with 480 guestrooms and suites and the largest banqueting facility (it can take 6,000 guests), will be launched sometime between October and December this year.

A Kempinski spokesperson confirmed the development saying Vella Ramasawmy, president, Ambience Group and a seasoned hotelier, has been appointed general manager. He will be in charge of the pre-opening team and will be responsible for smooth operations of the luxury hotel.

The spokesperson, however, did not provide details on Kempinski’s commercial arrangements with the Indian partner or confirm if it was a multi-property arrangement.

The management agreement between the two sides was inked around December last year, industry sources said, hinting, it could well have been the reason for the Leela-Kempinski split.

The spokesperson did not comment on the reasons for discontinuing the marketing alliance with Leela, which was inked in 2005-06.  The Leela management had earlier said it was done to pursue future growth opportunities for which it was required to set up its own marketing and distribution system.

The Delhi hotel will be Ambience’s second such project in the country. Interestingly, the realtor’s first project, with 322 guestrooms and 90 serviced apartments, was the launchpad for the The Leela Group’s entry into north India, which is being managed under the banner The Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon.

PE firms betting big on Indian fragrance segment

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, September 4, 2012.

Private equity firm The Blackstone Group recently picked up a 33% stake in Mumbai-based fragrance, flavours and aroma chemicals maker, SH Kelkar & Co (SHK), for Rs243 crore. The deal, second in the domestic fragrance segment in recent times, mirrors the growing interest of investors in India’s overall consumer story, not just retail front-end. Privi Organics, another Mumbai-based flavours and aroma chemicals maker, had raised Rs85 crore from Standard Chartered PE in March 2011.

Kedar Vaze, director and chief operating officer, SHK, said that in this second fundraise by SHK in two years, Blackstone has bought out the existing PE investor and also infused fresh funds. “Roughly 50% of the money raised has been used to give an exit (to the earlier investor) and the balance will be used to consolidate our position in the domestic and international markets,” said Vaze.

SHK enjoys 18-20% of the domestic fragrances, flavours and aroma chemicals manufacturing industry in India that is pegged at around Rs2,000 crore.

While organised players control 85% of the market, the top six enjoy 70% share and are growing in double-digits on account of rising demand from FMCG, processed foods, personal care and toiletries segments.

On market opportunity, Harminder Sahni, founder and managing director, Wazir Advisors, said, “In India, the processed food industry is gradually evolving, so the market is fairly small compared to the developed nations. While categories like personal care and toiletries (soap, shampoo, creams, lotion, etc) enjoy much larger market here, MNCs are the dominant players.”

However, these MNCs use very standardised flavours which they source from their global partners. The quantity is also not more since as only one gram of additive is needed for every 100 litre.

So why are PE funds betting on Indian fragrance makers? “Domestic brands, be it in the personal care space like ITC, KevinCare, Dabur, Marico and Godrej, or in processed food industry space which have become very valuable in the last few years, prefer to source from local players,” Sahni said.

PE funds are looking at the entire consumer story, not just front-end (retail chains and brands), but also the supply chain — distributors, suppliers, and their suppliers. So players such as SHK with sizeable market share in their segments provide good investment opportunity.

Experts see business of perfume makers rising and MNCs, too, eventually sourcing from them to cut costs, he said. “We are working with strong brand companies with over 2,000 products. In terms of volume and value growth, products like deodorants, fine fragrances and cosmetics are fast growing,” said Vaze, citing that deodorants as a category is growing at 40% per annum, while toilet soap has seen growth of 4-5% annually.

In the next 3-5 years, SHK will use most of the Blackstone funds to make acquisitions and is looking to expand to new markets. The company is targeting Rs700-750 crore revenues this fiscal with operating profit margins of 17-20%.

Blackstone invests Rs 243 crore in S H Kelkar & Company

One of the world’s leading investment and advisory firms, The Blackstone Group has picked up undisclosed stake in a Mumbai-based fragrances, flavors and aroma chemicals maker S H Kelkar & Company (SHK) by investing Rs 243 crore. The investment, according to SHK, will be used to consolidate its position in India as well as expand its presence in the global markets. The transaction was advised by Keynote Corporate Services Ltd.

A Reuters report citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter, said that the US private equity (PE) giant has bought a 34.5% stake in SHK.

Commenting on the deal, Kedar Vaze, director, SHK, said, Blackstone's strategic inputs and capital will enable the company to achieve ambitious growth plans. "In addition to helping us scale operations, this deal will provide us access to Blackstone’s international network and global best practices," said Vaze.

A research and development (R&D) focused company, SHK's clients include leading fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India and abroad. The company supplies a wide variety of specialty fragrance and flavour ingredients to 2,000 customer base globally.

With three manufacturing units in India (two fragrance units in Maharashtra, and one bulk aroma chemicals unit in Vapi, Gujarat) and a manufacturing unit in Netherlands, SHK recently opened offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, for growing sales to South East Asia in addition to sales offices across India. SHK's four R&D/creative centres are located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Netherlands and Indonesia.

Akhil Gupta, senior managing director and chairman, Blackstone India said SHK has unique intellectual property and a strong market presence for over eight decades. "In the domestic fragrance market, SHK is the leader with a large customer base and is the only Indian player of scale. We foresee a huge growth opportunity for SHK both in domestic and other emerging markets, driven by the growth in personal consumption in India, Africa and South-east Asia,” said Gupta.

Last year in March 2011, another PE firm Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) had invested Rs 85 crore in Privi Organics, one of India’s leading aroma chemical manufacturer and exporter. The funding was used to part finance the growth plans of the company’s business through expansion of manufacturing facilities at Mahad, Maharashtra and also support key backward integration projects.

Zee Learn to own and operate 300 Kidzee preschools

An edited version of this story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Saturday, September 01, 2012.

As part of a strategy change Zee Learn Ltd, India's largest operator of preschools under the Kidzee brand, will be setting up 300 centres across the country in the next five years. To be company owned company operated (CoCo), these will be in addition to the over 300-odd Kidzee centres that Zee Learn adds annually using the franchise approach, said a top company official.

Navneet Anhal, chief operating office, Zee Learn Ltd, said the Kidzee vertical is one of the company's main businesses, and the management's decision to invest was taken post a carefully-thought capital expenditure (capex) plan.

"Adding the dimension of 'good to great', a critical change of strategy for our growth phase has been incorporated starting this year. Preschools being our flagship business, the company has decided to make equity investments and set up owned and operated Kidzee centres across the country. Work on five such centres is currently on and we should be opening them within this fiscal," said Anhal.

Introspecting on their strengths with the objective of leveraging it for future growth, the company decided to tap the huge opportunity in the form of company owned preschools considering they had a very good product in the form of Kidzee. The management has thus decided to additionally pursue the CoCo approach (which will also serve are excellence centres for the company's franchise business) for further expansion.

"Preschools being an area of minimal risk thanks to the management's vast experience and knowledge in the space, the company thought it prudent to make further investment in this vertical of their education business," he said.
 

The company is looking at investing around Rs 120 crore in the next five years towards setting up these CoCo Kidzee centres which will be funded through equity infusion plans announced last year and internal accruals. "Each centre will call for an investment of anything between Rs 30-40 lakh as we are not buying real estate but leasing out the space. The money will be invested largely towards creating the right environment including designing, furniture, play equipment etc for the children there," he said.

Zee Learn currently has over 1,000 (signed) Kidzee (franchise) centres across the country of which 850 are fully operational and the balance are in advanced stages of getting operational. "That numbers keep changing monthly as new centres get into the network as and when they are ready for launch," he said.

Taking into account the inflationary changes, the company has incorporated around 10% hike in the fees to take care of administration expenses and provide quality education to the children. Last year Zee Learn did over 300 sign-ups through franchise arrangements and has set a similar target for this year as well.

The company created a new chain of schools last year catering to the upper tier of consumers, branding it as Mount Litera World School and a preschool equivalent of that called Mount Litera World Preschool. While there are two Mount Litera World Preschools already operational in Lokhandwala (Andheri) and Chembur, the first Mount Litera World School is coming up at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. The project is being developed in over 1.4 acre land parcel with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities. The school is in a very advanced stage of development and the company is planning a grand launch of the facility in the coming months.

While Anhal did not share specific details of their World School project, a top company official had, in an earlier interaction last year, said that the facility will be an integrated education complex comprising school, media management training institute. The project cost envisaged then was upwards of Rs 50 crore.

The company also has big plans in the area of K-12 schools (kindergarten to XIIth standard) and is planning to set up 400-500 schools under the Mount Litera Zee School banner. To be established largely through the franchise route, these schools will be established in states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Goa, to name a few. The company currently has 50 Mount Litera Zee Schools and plans to sign up 30 franchise agreements in this financial year.