PE-backed ex-Godrej MD buys ISS Hicare

The author has posted comments on this articleBoby Kurian & Reeba Zachariah, TNN | Jan 29, 2014, 01.29AM IST MUMBAI: Private equity firm India Value Fund, managing assets worth over $1 billion, will invest Rs 150 crore to back former Godrej Consumer Products MD and serial entrepreneur Arumugham Mahendran's buyout of pest control services company ISS Hicare from its Denmark-based parent.

The buyout deal is likely to be signed as early as Wednesday, with India Value Fund picking up about 90% stake in the asset. Mahendran, who will hold the rest, will have a "claw-back option", or right to buyback shares depending on the performance milestones of the company.

The PE firm and Mahendran will roughly pay Rs 120 crore for the acquisition, while Rs 30 crore will be infused to adequately capitalize the company's growth plans. Boutique investment bank MAPE advised Mahendran on the deal.

Mahendran left Godrej after 18 years during which he was also an equity partner in the group's food and beverages business sold to Hersheys last year. He joined Godrej when he sold Transelektra Domestic Products, which launched mosquito repellent brand Good Knight, to the group in 1994.

Later he built a pest control management business, Godrej Hicare, which was acquired by ISS Group, a global facility management services giant based in Denmark. The impending deal will see Mahendran buying back the business along with a PE fund.

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PE-backed ex-Godrej MD buys ISS Hicare