HUL Acquires The Iconic Brand Horlicks from GSK

The Rs 31,700 crore mega-deal was first announced by HUL in 2018 to acquire GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited (GSKCH). The merger of GSKCH is complete now and HUL has additionally paid 3045 Crores to acquire the Horlicks brand for India.  This marks one of the largest deals in the FMCG sector in recent times.

With the Horlicks the HUL will foray into a completely new segment of nutrition.

HUL in a statement said that apart from Horlicks, GSKCH’s other brands such as Boost and Maltova will now be part of the company’s food and refreshments business falling under the nutrition category.

As per the agreement, 3,500 employees of the mergerd entity will now become part of the HUL.
After this merger, GSK Plc (including its other group companies) will now own 5.7 per cent of the merged entity. As a result, Unilever’s stake in HUL will reduce to 61.9 per cent from the earlier 67.2 per cent

Brands such as Horlicks and Boost are iconic, and we are excited to have them in the Hindustan Unilever fold - Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever

Krishnan Sundaram, vice president, integration and change management, will lead the business, reporting into Sudhir Sitapati, executive director, foods and refreshments, HUL.

It was the British Army who brought Horlicks to India. After world War 1, Indian soldiers of British Indian Army brought it back with them as a dietary supplement. Many Army regiments adopted Horlicks as a family drink in early 1940s and 1950s.

The Well to do Indians also started drinking Horlicks by this time. Horlicks was seen as a status symbol in upper middle class Indians and rich classes. In the later years it became a household brand and became very popular among children. It was marketed as The Great Family Nourisher in India.