Exclusive: Emami set to acquire 100% stake in The Man Company

Fast moving consumer goods company Emami is set to acquire 100% stake in men’s grooming brand The Man company, two sources familiar with details told Entrackr. While the group has backed several companies in the direct to consumer segment, this would be the first complete acquisition by the group in the D2C space.

“The acquisition was inevitable and a matter of time as Emami already has a controlling stake in The Man Company,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The deal will value the company at around Rs 400 crore.”

Emami already owned a little over 50% in The Man Company as of July 2022. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, co-founders Hitesh Dhingra, Parvesh Bareja, and Bhisam Bhateja collectively own around 35% of the company.

Emami acquired a 33.09% stake in The Man Company across two tranches which materialized in December 2017 and February 2019.

"The discussions are in the final stages, and if nothing goes wrong at the last moment, the transaction will be completed in a few weeks from now," said the source quoted above.

Queries sent to Emami and The Man Company didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will carry their comments in case they do.

For the fiscal year ending March 2024, The Man Company posted a revenue of Rs 185 crore. As per the firm, 70% of its revenues came from e-commerce channels, including major marketplaces and its website. It claimed EBITDA level profitability with Rs 14 crore in FY24.

It's worth highlighting that the firm has raised only Rs 75 crore ($9 million) to date.

The Gurugram-based firm majorly competes with Beardo which was acquired by Marico in July 2020 in around Rs 350 crore. Beardo is yet to disclose its FY24 numbers but it did more than Rs 100 crore revenue in FY23. Its other peer Ustraa also posted similar revenue in FY23.