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Time of India
28-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
L Catterton to raise $600 million India focused fund
Representative image (AI) MUMBAI: Private equity (PE) firm L Catterton backed by French luxury brand LVMH is raising a $600 million India-focused fund as it looks to tap into opportunities in a growing market where a spate of new-age firms are building consumer focused brands and services. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank affiliate has proposed to invest up to $30 million in the fund alongside an additional co-investment of up to $30 million, it said in a recent disclosure. L Catterton did not respond to queries. L Catterton will invest in seven to nine companies through the fund, largely mid-sized and operating in the consumer space with cheque sizes ranging from $25-$150 million. The fund will back companies building in the food and beverages, retail and restaurants, consumer services (including healthcare) spaces besides funding up and coming consumer brands. The PE firm has traditionally been consumer focused and has made more than 275 investments globally. Its India portfolio includes a mix of startups such as Sugar Cosmetics, Drools and bigger players such as Jio Platforms. L Catterton which had been routing its investments in India through Asia fund last year roped in former Hindustan Unilever (HUL) chief executive officer Sanjiv Mehta to build a new investment vehicle for the India market. The PE firm's Asia platform formed a new joint venture partnership with Mehta for the same. Several PE and VC (venture capital) investors have been raising funds for the India market even as deployment of large cheques have so far been tepid amid evolving global macro developments. Last month, homegrown investment firm A91 Partners closed a $665 million fund while disclosure made by VC firm Accel earlier this year showed that it raised a $650 million fund focused on the region. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Private equity firm L Catterton to raise $600 million for its first India-dedicated fund
L Catterton , a private equity firm backed by LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate, is raising $600 million for its debut India-focused fund , according to a disclosure by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group's private sector investment arm. This may mark the first time a global private equity firm is launching an investment vehicle dedicated to India. As per the disclosure, IFC will invest $30 million in the L Catterton India Fund-I with an additional co-investment amount of $30 million. In March last year, former Hindustan Unilever (HUL) chief executive Sanjiv Mehta teamed up with L Catterton to launch an India-focused investment vehicle, according to an official statement made at the time. Mehta, who headed HUL, India's largest FMCG company, for ten years until 2023, formed an India consumer sector-focused joint venture with L Catterton to develop a new investment vehicle. ET had reported last July that L Catterton had submitted an application with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to register the India-focused vehicle as a Category II AIF ( alternative investment fund ). The vehicle will be led by Mehta, the firm's executive chairman for India, along with Anjana Sasidharan, partner and head of India investments, and the existing L Catterton Asia leadership team headed by managing partner Scott Chen, who has been in the role since 2019. L Catterton plans to make seven to nine investments from this India-dedicated fund, with cheque sizes ranging from $25 million to $150 million. According to IFC, the fund will primarily back companies across segments such as food and beverages, consumer services (including healthcare, retail and restaurants), and consumer brands. So far, L Catterton has invested in Indian companies through its Asia fund. The firm's portfolio includes beauty brand Sugar Cosmetics, healthy snacking startup Farmley (where it led a $40 million round last month), petcare brand Drools, which became a unicorn following a minority investment from Nestle SA, and Impresario, the parent company of restaurant chain Social, founded by Riyaaz Amlani. L Catterton has also invested in Jio Platforms, owned by Reliance Industries . The development was first reported by online news publication The Arc. With its India-focused fund, L Catterton will step into a market already home to consumer-focused investment firms like A91 Partners, as well as early-stage backers such as Fireside Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, and others. This fund raise trend also reflects the broader dynamics in the Indian investment ecosystem. In 2024, Bluestone investor IvyCap Ventures, former KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar's Sorin Investments, and climate-focused Avaana Capital also announced sizable fund closures. More recently, A91 Partners closed its largest-ever fund with a $665 million corpus, while venture capital fund Accel India, an early backer of Flipkart and Swiggy, also closed a $650 million fund. ET had reported on April 25 that Peak XV Partners is set to raise its first independent fund after its split from Silicon Valley firm Sequoia Capital with a target corpus of $1.2-1.4 billion.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Private equity firm L Catterton to raise $600 million for its first India-dedicated fund
Synopsis In March last year, former HUL chief executive Sanjiv Mehta teamed up with L Catterton to launch an India-focused investment vehicle, according to an official statement made at the time. Mehta, who headed HUL, India's largest FMCG company, for ten years until 2023, formed an India consumer sector-focused joint venture with L Catterton to develop a new investment vehicle.
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
How to profit from consumer trade-offs
'There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs'-Thomas Sowell. Our life runs on trade-offs. Brands are chosen on trade-offs. Even some of the negative characters portrayed in religious epics trade off on their positive traits before they decide to act. So, what's new about trade-offs? Recent research has opened many interesting insights into this domain; besides, these research pieces enable a marketer to think in an era where they are hard pressed both for time and strategies due to competitive pressures. Human beings seem to be created to make use of trade-offs. Perceived pleasure and loss of something that is traded off in almost every decision we make, and neuro research has established the importance of emotional feeling and rational thinking being useful in decision making, contrary to the widely held beliefs on completely rational decisions in decision making with respect to high involvement purchases. In 1847, the Governor of Gomm (Mauritius) issued a limited-edition stamps (500 red ones and 500 blue ones) to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his Government. The engraver made a mistake with respect to the stamps. Instead of 'Post Paid', the stamps had Post Office' on them. Subsequently after a century, two of these stamps costing 2 p each were sold to a collector, in an auction for US $3.5 million !Citizen the watch brand in Feb 2025, introduced a limited-edition Citizen 8/831 Mechanical model (restricted to 1800 pieces worldwide) at a price of US$1800. The examples reflect that trade offs associated with consumer behavior is not just limited to functional aspects of an offering ; they may also include social signaling value. Triggers on insights A paper published in Journal of Consumer Research (Dec 2024) , differentiates between two categories of consumers, one category consistently preferring quantity over quality in their purchases and the other category the other way over. We all decide on this simple criterion in various buying contexts. The paper found that consumers who have the quantity criteria exhibited behaviors like spending more, borrowing more and accruing more debt ( interestingly, such a direction of thinking could also be applied to the data on credit cards and huge data sets are available given the usage of cards in a retail context). Another research paper that was published in Journal of European Marketing (Dec 2024) suggests that whenever consumers perceive anthropomorphism with respect to objects /products having human like qualities , they are likely to compromise on monetary value . For instance , if a two-wheeler is given a smiling look by design ,consumers may compromise on the monetary value. Incidentally, providing human names is quite common these days. Cyclones are given human names. Celebrities who are important influencers provide human associations to brands. Basics of category development and the impact of culture In an interview with Economic Times, Sanjiv Mehta, the former Chairperson of Hindustan Unilever had underlined the importance of basics with respect to category development in India -the four approaches are raising the consumption, penetration, increasing the frequency of consumption and premiumization. A product line is a string of similar offerings that have distinctive segments of consumers who choose their trade-off. A shampoo category has the basic one to convert a non-user of shampoo into shampoo usage and ladders up with several levels of benefits at varying prices. Higher the price, more exclusive in the benefit. Demographic and psychographic data trends can identify inflection points in consumption that lead the marketer to acquiring consumers at higher price points. But the approach is not linear; the changes in consumer behavior reflecting trade-offs happen in a cultural setting. For instance, after the introduction of instant coffee during the seventies, filter coffee (the one prepared in a traditional manner) has declined and over the last five decades the penetration and consumption of instant coffee variants have diffused considerably. Recognizing the need for a quick process of preparing coffee (the convenience offered by instant coffee) and the trade-off made by consumers of instant coffee with respect to taste , Tata Coffee introduced a premium offering Quick Filter, that provides the taste of the traditional filter coffee and can be prepared instantly. But cultural practices may not always support products that bridge trade-offs. At one point in time, P&G's research showed Italian housewives used to spend 21 hours a week, on household chores besides cooking as compared to 4 hours for Americans. Italian women used to wash kitchen and bathroom floors 4 times a week compared to Americans who were doing it once in a week. Time taken for cleaning and the cleaning efficiency of a product are generally the two criteria for choosing a cleaner. Unilever's all-purpose spray Cif and P&G's best-selling mop Swiffer were failures, because consumers were not interested in trading off the performance of cleaners and use cleaners that will save time. In fact, Italian women who were using dish washers used to rinse the dishes before they were loaded into dishwashers because the users did not completely did not attribute reliability to the machine. Research also revealed that 72 percent of housewives at that point of time owned more than eight cleaning products to ensure that the cleaning job was completed to perfection. Cultural trends and lifestyles too drive trade-offs that consumers apply in situational contexts. During the sixties and seventies, consumers had relatively a conservative lifestyle and discretionary income too was limited to a few households. Despite limited options for entertainment, Indian Coffee House branches in cities (some of them also had a juke box that would play film songs from records for a charge, when a coin is inserted) attracted limited consumers. But after the new millennium, Café Coffee Day other cafes became a hit. The trade-off was on the socialising experience in a café Vs monetary value. Importance and Complexities of price-benefit relationships In a category like cars or mobiles, trade-offs can be complex. How do consumers go about making decisions using trade-offs ? Do consumers use trade-off amongst several attributes of the offering? Does more than one attribute appear important with respect to decision making? Are there primary and secondary attributes in the perception of consumers? How do consumers vary across segments? These interesting ways to approach trade-offs have several implications on brand strategies. Advanced marketing research and analytical techniques are used to resolve such challenges. Psychology on trade-offs will ensure that brands will use appropriate trade-offs with respect to their strategies. (The author was Professor of Marketing at IIM Bangalore from 1995 to 2022. Opinions are Personal. The article is for general information purposes makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information. It does not assume any responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or damages arising from the use of this reserve the right to modify or remove any content without prior notice. The reproduction, distribution, or storage of any content without written permission is strictly prohibited.)
