CESC Ventures has executed an agreement to buy 64.63% stake in Herbolab India Pvt. Ltd. for a consideration of Rs 32.17 Cr in cash.

• Herbolab sells ayurvedic formulations under the brand Dr. Vaidya’s
• Dr. Vaidya’s is a new age Ayurvedic products business founded by a family with 150 years of Ayurvedic heritage.
• Herbolab houses a 15,000 sq. ft. factory and is situated in Silvassa (approximately 250 km from Mumbai).
• It has 96 FDA approved formulations which are manufactured at its own facility.
• The facility is Ministry of AYUSH approved, ISO 9001:2015 approved, GMP Certified and recently also got US FDA approved.

Herbolab's FY19 turnover was a meagre Rs 2 Cr on which optically the sales multiple paid seems to be very high at 25 times. However, there must be some valuable IPR created by this company over its decades of existence which could be in the form of research, manufacturing facilities and/or regulatory approvals which in the hands of an aggressive management can be scaled up quickly.

This acquisition gives CESC Ventures an entry into the fast growing Ayurvedic personal care segment.

Source:
- Company Filing: https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachHis/912e7c44-4d5f-4701-8f30-4708c6f657b8.pdf
- Dr Vaidya's website & online portal: https://drvaidyas.com/