Azim Premji is known to be a wealth creator. No wonder, he was very active during the IT boom.
Now he betting on his consumer business and acquisitions could be something that will drive most of its growth.
A UK based company could literally add value this time to Wipro Consumer, a division of Wipro.
India's fourth largest software services provider has emerged as a frontrunner to buy one of Lornamead's flagship brand Yardley of London along with its Nigerian subsidiary Tura. These are brands that even Godrej, Dabur and Emami were actively pursuing.
NDTV Profit learns from sources that Wipro plans to buy both Yardley and Tura as a packaged deal.
While Yardley has sales of over $75 million and Tura around 40 million, the deal size could be anywhere between Rs 500-Rs 600 crore.
Wipro bought Unza two years back to strengthen its presence in South Asian markets. Yardley could give easy access to Africa, Middle East and Asia, where so far, Wipro is present only through exports.
Experts feel that with many of these brands competing in similar segments, brand positioning will be the key.
Alpana Parida, president of Alia Group, said, “The key is how far the Wipro brand and the Santoor brand extends itself and what can come under its fold?
How will be the brand architecture and how all these brands fit into the entire portfolio?
That's the key to how successful these brands become.”
Meanwhile according to sources, Wipro Consumer wants to double its sales every three years primarily through acquisitions. With Unza buy it more than doubled its sales to over Rs 2000 crore and Yardley could now help Wipro do just that once again.