Motilal Oswal Private Equity (MOPE) through its third private equity fund, 'India Business Excellence Fund – III', has invested an undisclosed sum for a minority stake in N Ranga Rao & Sons Private Limited (NRRS).
Mysuru-based company NRRS is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of Agarbathies, puja products, lifestyle and functional air-care products.
Established in 1948, NRRS is part of NR Group. NRRS is the largest Agarbathi company in India and has maintained its leadership position in the category for several decades. The products are marketed under different brands such as Cycle Pure Agarbathies, Om Shanthi (Puja Products), Lia (Agarbathies, room fresheners and car fresheners), Stop-O (Odour fighters) and IRIS (Lifestyle home fragrances), a release said.
The company has a strong pan-India sales and distribution, with a network reaching close to 1.5 million retail outlets.
Arjun Ranga, Managing Director of NRRS said, "We strongly believe in collaborative and ethical growth and in always delivering value for money to our customers. We are pleased to partner with MOPE to expand our product portfolio in air care and puja products."
Vishal Tulsyan, Managing Director and CEO of MOPE said, "Agarbathi as a product touches almost every Indian household and the brand "Cycle" has increasingly been synonymous with Agarbathies for the past seven decades. Despite the largely unorganised nature of the business, NRRS' focus on branding, quality, owned sales and distribution network along with an emphasis on continuous innovation has made it a market leader which is almost double the size of its next competitor. Through this partnership with NRRS, we intend to help create a very large, differentiated leader in India's Agarbathi and fragrance industry".