Emami turns aggressive, buys She Comfort brand after male deo launch

Emami, maker of personal and healthcare products, has forayed into women hygiene space by acquiring a small-sized sanitary napkin brand 'She Comfort’ from Mumbai-based Royal Hygiene Care Pvt Ltd.

“The acquisition of ‘She Comfort’ brand is a part of our inorganic growth strategy and is being funded through internal accruals,” NH Bhansali, CEO of Emami, said in a statement.

The deal size or the size of the brand wasn't disclosed. The brand is a fringe player in the Rs 2,100-crore sanitary napkin market dominated mostly by the multinationals and growing at about 20% a year.

'She Comfort' however commands a premium pricing mainly because of its rash-free properties for which it had earlier filed a patent application.

"She Comfort is a brand that has strong potential in the feminine hygiene category. We are confident of Emami taking the brand to reach its true potential," Rakesh Kaul, director and promoter of Royal Hygiene said.

"It is currently a low penetrated category. However, with growing literacy and awareness of healthy lifestyle, more and more new consumers are entering this segment. We plan to use our well entrenched distribution network to reach out to our consumers in both rural and urban markets” director Harsha Agarwal of Emami said.

The acquisition comes close to Emami's foray in to the cluttered male deodorant space where it has just launched the brand 'He' roping in Hrithik Roshan as its brand endorser.

Emami recently told analysts that it plans to launch about 7-8 brands during FY15 in a bid to come back to 16-17% growth rate in topline.