TPG, Advent among PEs eyeing stake in Vini Cosmetics

Mumbai: TPG Capital and Advent International are among a handful of private equity funds that have been sounded out about a minority investment in Vini Cosmetics, maker of the market-leading Fogg deodorant.

The company is looking to raise up to ₹1,500 crore ($200 million) from investors through a combination of secondary share sales and new money coming into the company, said two people aware of the development.

The fundraise may see founder-promoter Darshan Patel dilute about 10% and another 5% stake sale by existing investor Sequoia Capital at a ₹7,300-8,800 crore valuation, said one of the persons cited above. The fundraising decision is expected to get formalised at the next board meeting, to be held in January.


Patel co-founded Vini Cosmetics with younger brother Dipam in 2010 after the family sold Paras Pharmaceuticals to UK multinational Reckitt Benckiser. They hold about 65% of the company while Sequoia has a 15% stake and WestBridge Capital has 20%.

The older Patel is credited as the brains behind successful homegrown brands such as Moov, Livon, Itch Guard, Set Wet, Krack and Dermicool at Paras.

“We have received initial feelers. We will be seriously looking at the proposal once the formal process begins,” said another person with knowledge of the process. “Besides the new investor, existing investor Westbridge may participate in the next round of fundraising.”

Darshan Patel declined to comment as did the spokespersons of TPG, Advent and Sequoia Capital.

Vini Cosmetics has so far received total investments of more than ₹1,200 crore over three rounds of funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital and WestBridge Capital. Early investor Bay Capital exited in 2017, when Westbridge entered at a valuation of ₹4,000 crore.

ET earlier reported that Westbridge was planning to double down on its investment to take a majority stake in the Ahmedabad-headquartered price warrior that’s disrupted a deodorant market once dominated by global giants such as Unilever, Nestle and bigger homegrown peers such as Godrej Consumer, apart from cheap knockoffs.

Fogg, the largest selling deodorant brand in India, accounts for about 80% of the company’s sales. Vini posted sales of ₹1,100 crore in FY20 with an ebitda of ₹260 crore.

Fogg leads the fragrance market in India with a 16% market share, followed by Nivea (12%) and Engage (11%). Major deodorant brands in India include Axe (Hindustan Unilever), Engage (ITC), Fogg, Nivea, Park Avenue and Wild Stone (McNroe Consumer). The Indian deodorant market is estimated at ₹5,500 crore.

Sales of deodorants are expected to grow 3% in 2020 due to Covid-19 compared with a 5% rise forecast before the pandemic struck, according to Euromonitor.

TPG has wide exposure to the Indian consumer sector.