Washington DC-based Private equity firm Carlyle has acquired a majority stake in India’s homegrown skincare and beauty platform VLCC.
In a press statement, Carlyle announced the strategic partnership with VLCC. Equity for the transaction will come from the funds managed. However, the firm didn’t disclose the terms of the transaction.
KPMG India acted as the exclusive transaction advisor to VLCC and the founders.
The statement also mentioned that VLCC will appoint Gurveen Singh and J Suresh as independent directors to the board. Singh retired as the chief human resources officer at Reckitt Benckiser. While Suresh recently retired as the managing director and CEO of Arvind Fashions Limited and had started his career with Hindustan Unilever.
“We believe VLCC is well-positioned to capture a larger share of the fast-growing skincare, beauty and wellness market in the countries we operate in. Carlyle’s extensive global consumer sector experience, business partnership mindset, local market knowledge and high-calibre team make them the right partner to take the business to the next level. With the Carlyle partnership, we have every confidence in VLCC’s prospects in capturing the market opportunities ahead of us," Vandana Luthra, Founder of VLCC, said.
“We plan to help VLCC accelerate growth through investments in brand building; product expansion; scaling its pan-India digital and e-commerce distribution channels; and expanding its local footprint of retail clinics. We look forward to working with VLCC’s founders as we seek to strengthen the management team and draw on Carlyle’s deep global consumer experience and network of senior advisors,” Amit Jain, Managing Director and Co-Head, Carlyle India Advisors, said.
Carlyle has invested more than $5.5 billion of equity in over 40 transactions in India as of September 30.
