Godrej Group eyes more acquisitions abroad

Mumbai, Sep 29: After making acquisitions in countries like the UK and South Africa, the Godrej Group is now on the lookout for more acquisitions abroad.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the second CII Corporate Governance (CG) Summit here today, Godrej chairman Adi Godrej said, ''We have completed few acquisitions in the UK and South Africa. Now we are looking at those countries which have larger populations.

Some of the countries the company has evinced its interest include Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brazil. The company has already pumped in Rs 400 crore in the past one year in the acquisition of companies like Nutrine and others.'' However, he made it clear that his company would not go for acquiring any food company abraod.

''We are more interested in acquiring those companies that are in the business of personal care and household care,'' he clarified.

On FMCG, he said though his company had its interest in the sector, there was nothing much happening in the sector at this point of time.

Asked about the Group's interest in SEZ, he said that his company has already decided to convert at least a couple of its projects into SEZs. Here again, the company has intended to develop only those SEZs that required smaller plots of lands for their development, where the government's nod was not required at all. The SEZs for IT or ITES may be one of the focus areas as they could be developed on a small land measuring 10 hectares.

Informing the status about his company's ongoing Simplex Planet Godrej project, Mr Godrej said five 46-storey towers were being developed by his company on its land at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai, which will be known as Simplex Planet Godrej.

The company was also doing lots of real estate development work in other cities such as Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Cochin and Hyderabad, he added.

UNI