08-10-2014, PAGE 2.

40 YEARS AGO... AND NOW : Wiser after serial divorces The group’s much-touted acquisitions in recent years follow a series of disappointments in joint ventures

VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO They had identi ed laundry, hair-care, paper products , 7 October and pharmaceuticals as their core areas of operation. Clearly, the soaps segment wasn’t critical to them, where- When Godrej Group Chairman celebrated his as we were soaps-led.” It was only a matter of time before 70th birthday two years ago, his brother and Godrej both parties parted ways, ending a three-year tenuous Agrovet chairman Nadir Godrej wrote a poem in his relationship. In 2000, Godrej ended its Pillsbury alliance, honour. It was a candid account of the man and how he formed to market wheat our and other products. had steered the 115-year-old group (now 117) since he In 2001, Godrej snapped ties with GE (in the appli- stepped into the family business in 1963. ances space). And, once again, the issue related to mis- A part of the poem was on the group’s joint ventures: matched expectations. While both GE and Godrej had “But then we thought that we should seek good product lines, sales otake was a contentious Strong partners or we would stay weak. issue. More break-ups were in store. It severed ties with And, so we formed the odd joint venture, Swedish rm SCA Hygiene Products in 2009, Malaysia’s Which proved to be quite an adventure. IJM Plantations in 2011 and Hershey’s in 2012. We learnt a lot and that’s for sure IJM was believed to have lost interest in the alliance It helps us still to endure. three years after the joint venture was signed, which left But when we got our business back, Godrej with no choice but to buy out its majority stake We were rather o the track.” in the venture. In the joint venture with US chocolate Nadir’s assessment of the $2.25-billion maker Hershey’s, the two companies weren’t (~13,500-crore) group’s tryst with joint ven- on the same page in promoting the business. tures couldn’t have been more accurate. There Godrej was keen on greater cooperation and were more failures than successes on this front, participation from Hershey’s in terms of prompting the city-based group to pursue an product launches, given it had put in all its aggressive acquisition strategy in recent years, confectionary (Maha Lacto and Nutrine) and in its search for growth. beverage (Jumpin and So t) brands into the Through the past two decades, the group venture. But Hershey’s was more calculated forged eight joint ventures with foreign com- in its approach, launching only one prod- panies. The only one to have survived is the uct, Hershey’s Syrup, in the Indian market in six-year joint venture with US-based the ve years since the joint venture Tyson Foods. , the 49 was signed. per cent shareholder in the joint ven- THE JV JOURNEY After months of speculation of an ture, is said to have a strong working 1992-2001God : rej-GE imminent break-up, Hershey’s relationship with Tyson. And, the acquired the 49 per cent stake held two brands promoted by the joint 1993-1996God : rej-P&G largely by Godrej Industries in venture company Godrej Tyson 1995-2010G : odrej-Sara Lee September 2012. Foods — Real Good Chicken and Some unions, however, lasted Yummiez — were brought into the 1996-2000 God: rj-Pillsbury longer. The joint venture with US company by the Indian partner. 2007-2009Go: drej-SCA consumer goods major Sara Lee Godrej Agrovet, said those in the 2007-2012:God rej-Hershey thrived for 15 years. While Godrej’s know, never felt its brands were giv- household insecticide portfolio was en short shrift by Tyson. Both part- 2008-2011God: rej-IJM vested in the joint venture, Sara Lee ners know what they bring to the 2008-still onGod: rej-Tyson brought Brylcreem, AmbiPur and table — while Godrej has a supply Source : Industry Kiwi shoe polish to the table. chain and back-end technology, Eventually, Sara Lee sold these Tyson brings its food processing and product devel- brands to dierent companies to focus on its core foods opment know-how. business. Clearly, this hasn’t been the case with other joint This led to the termination of the joint venture and ventures of the Godrej Group. acquisition of the 51 per cent Sara Lee stake by Godrej Consider Godrej’s high-pro le soaps joint venture Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) in 2010. “Sara Lee was with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1993. The entity fell moving out of non-core businesses. Plus, the contribu- apart in three years, following dierences over P&G’s tion of its brands in the joint venture was not substan- treatment of Godrej brands, including its popular tial,” said Press, who retired as vice-chairman of GCPL Cinthol and mass-market brand Ganga. Godrej had in 2010. “At some stage, a call had to be taken on the transferred the distribution and marketing of its soaps future of the joint venture.” portfolio to the joint venture, retaining only manu- As Nadir Godrej alluded to in his ode to his brother facturing — of its own soaps and P&G’s brands. To Adi, failed marriages appear to have made the group ensure there was no deviation, Godrej also sold its wiser. Through the past decade, the group, through detergent brands Trilo, Key and Ezee to P&G. GCPL, made about 10 acquisitions, ramping up its Eventually, the three brands found their way back turnover three times. Now, it proposes to increase rev- into the group when Godrej acquired these from enue tenfold in the next 10 years, through all group Cussons (which had bought these from P&G) companies — GCPL, Godrej Properties, Godrej Agrovet, in 1998. Godrej Chemicals and retail arm Nature’s Basket. Despite all eorts to stay focused, Godrej soon dis- As Nadir’s poem says: covered P&G wasn’t really interested in the soaps busi- “The developing world’s our playground ness. As Hoshedar Press, a former Godrej Group execu- A strategy that we nd sound.” tive who was also part of the Procter & Gamble Godrej For now, the century-old group’s transformation to a board, says, “Procter’s attention was shifting from soaps. new-age giant seems to be on track.

SOURCE: http://www.business-standard.com/article/compa- nies/40-years-ago-and-now-godrej-group-wiser-after-serial-divorces-114100800012_1.html