S.H. Kelkar secures $43.8m investment from Blackstone Group

S.H. Kelkar (SHK), an Indian fragrance and aromatic compounds manufacturer, has announced that it has secured INR2.43bn ($43.83m) funding from American private equity firm The Blackstone Group.

S.H. Kelkar, a Mumbai-based company, has two fragrance-making facilities located in western India’s Maharashtra state, one bulk-aroma-chemicals unit in Gujarat state and a manufacturing unit in the Netherlands.

The company supplies a wide variety of specialty fragrance and flavour ingredients to leading FMCG companies in India and abroad, with a customer base of about 2,000.

Blackstone India chairman Akhil Gupta said SHK, which is India’s well-known FMCG brand, has unique intellectual property and a strong market presence for over eight decades.

"In the domestic fragrance market, SHK is the leader with a large customer base and is the only Indian player of scale. We are excited to partner SHK management as we foresee a huge growth opportunity for SHK both in domestic and other emerging markets, driven by the growth in personal consumption in India, Africa and South-East Asia," added Gupta.

The transaction was headed by Indian investment bank Keynote.

S.H. Kelkar has sales offices across India, and has recently opened new offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, to achieve growing sales across South-east Asia.

The firm has four R&D units/creative centres in Mumbai, Bangalore, the Netherlands and Indonesia.

S.H. Kelkar has revenues topping $115m and its promoters have been focused on the business of fragrances, flavours and aroma chemicals for nearly nine decades.

A total of 45% revenues of the firm come from overseas business, according to its website.