Mahendran To Acquire Stake In Two Companies

Arumugham Mahendran, the Ex-managing director of Godrej Consumer Products, signed off recently, is close to inking two significant deals worth 600-900 crore, ET states.

He is in talks to buy a majority equity stake in ISS Hi-Care, a pesticide services company. Mahendran had initially helped set up this business as Godrej Hi-Care in 2009. It was later renamed ISS Hi-Care, when the Godrej Group sold it to ISS, a Danish company.

On the other hand, he is also separately brewing another venture in the FMCG space with a substantial upfront investment commitment from a large private equity fund.

He held 80% of Godrej Hi-Care, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ISS.

ISS Hi-Care pvt Ltd, is an organized Pest Management service providers. It desires to provide a healthy and hygienic environment to its customers. With a presence in over 30 cities and 50 service centers across India, it offer complete Pest Management Solutions in commercial as well as residential premises.

The insecticides business is just a $430-450 Mn business for Sara lee globally, with 50 per cent of these revenues coming from India.

Godrej Hi-Care later became Godrej Sara Lee and when Sara Lee exited the JV in 2010, it was merged into Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.

Mahendran joined the Godrej Group in 1994 as a 'professional entrepreneur' when the group acquired Transelektra, which owned the Good Knight household insecticide brand. He has 33 % share of the household insecticides market.

He holds minority stake in various Godrej group. He held a 5% stake in Godrej Hi-Care, a 6% stake in foods company Godrej Hershey and 3% stake in rural retailing business Godrej Aadhaar.

He also ran a parallel business managed by his family, The Mahendran Group of companies with Harvey Healthcare Ltd, DB Apparel India Pvt Ltd, GoodLife Industries Ltd and Shama Food Industries LLC.

Mahendran had stitched together several JVs for the group and was instrumental in merging Godrej Tea and Godrej Industries Foods Division to create Godrej Beverages & Foods Ltd (GBFL) in 2006.