Sequoia India has entered into a deal to acquire branded cosmetics firm Faces Cosmetics Canada for an undisclosed sum, from Indivision India Partners managed by PE firm Everstone Capital.
The deal includes all its international subsidiaries and the brand “Faces,” Sequoia said in a statement. The existing management team led by Sharmili Rajput will continue to drive the business forward.
Faces is an iconic Canadian colour cosmetics brand set up over 40 years ago with a presence across countries in North America. It was acquired by Indivision India partners in 2007 and launched in India in December 2009. Since then, India has emerged as a key market for it.
“The colour cosmetics market is the fastest growing category in personal care and we see a huge opportunity for the Faces brand. The Sequoia team will work with the Faces management to make significant investments and deploy operational expertise to unlock the brand’s full potential, as well as expand its portfolio and reach,” said Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India.
Faces has a strong presence in India through leading e-commerce sites, over 900 store-in-stores, 2000 general trade stores and 13 EBOs across 80 cities. The new management team took over in 2014 and has helped grow the business rapidly to brand sales of over Rs 100 crore last year. Having successfully established itself as a young, exciting and innovative brand, the company is now looking to invest in a big way in product development, marketing and distribution and take the company to the next level.
“Our aim is to grow our revenue by 5x over the next five years, through strengthening our geographic coverage, deepening our distribution, expanding the portfolio, and extending our iconic brand to adjacent skin care categories,” said Sharmili Rajput, CEO, Faces.
Deep Mishra, MD, Everstone Capital, said: “Over the last three years, the Everstone team has reoriented the brand and product towards India and build a strong local management team. The Product suite has also been adapted to suit the Indian skin tones and points of presence scaled rapidly. The company is now poised for its next leg of growth and is well positioned for success”.
Everstone’s Rajev Shukla, a Unilever veteran, will continue to hold his personal stake in the company. Faces in India has a product portfolio of over 350 colour cosmetics and skin care products which are relevant to Indian skin tones and climate while maintaining the quality that is expected from an iconic Canadian brand.
Source: Business-Standard 