Shares of ITC settled 3.18 per cent lower at Rs 223.95 apiece on the BSEFast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major ITC announced on Friday that it will acquire 16 per cent stake in direct to consumer (D2C) brand Mother Sparsh for Rs 20 crore.
In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges today, ITC said that it will invest in the brand with a focus on the 'mother and baby care' segment, on a fully diluted basis.ITC has been focussing on the non-cigarette FMCG business over the past few years.
"We believe that this investment provides an exciting opportunity which is in alignment with our aspiration to have a significant play both in the naturals and ayurvedic segment as well as in the D2C channel,'' said Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive, Personal Care Products Business, ITC.Mother Sparsh plans to deploy the funds -- raised in its Series A funding round-- towards enhancement of its research and development initiatives, digital capabilities, and driving new product launches.We are elated to be associated with a partner like ITC whose ethos compliments our brand vision.
ITC is in sync with what we envisioned as the future of Mother Sparsh.
We expect to scale-up our revenues to Rs 300 crore over the next three to five years,saidCo-founder and CEO Himanshu Gandhi.''The move assumes significance in wake of a multi-fold increase in the website sales clocked by the brand over the past few months.
The company at present registers over 85 per cent of its sales through online channels and has over the past 12 months diversified its product portfolio by over 25 per cent,'' said Rishu Gandhi, Co-Founder, Mother Sparsh.Mother Sparsh Baby Care Private Limited or 'Mother Sparsh' is a range of baby and mother care products.
ITI Capital acted as a financial advisor to Mother Sparsh for the fund-raising process.On Friday, shares of ITC settled 3.18 per cent lower at Rs 223.95 apiece on the BSE.