By DASHVEENJIT KAUR / Pic By HUSSEIN SHAHARUDDIN

More Malaysian personal care products will be made available in the Philippines, post-acquisition of Splash Corp by Indian multinational conglomerate Wipro Ltd’s consumer care arm Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL).

Wipro had recently completed its acquisition of Ang-Hortaleza Corp’s stake in the Philippines based personal care maker Splash, for an undisclosed amount — completing the Indian firm’s South-East Asian footprint.

WCCL South-East Asia and Middle East and North Africa president Kumar Chander said the acquisition will see its local arm Wipro Unza (M) Sdn Bhd’s export rising by double digits as Malaysia will play a greater role as regional innovation and manufacturing hub.

“We look forward to bringing Splash’s market leading and innovative products to Malaysian consumers and sharing our own leading personal care brands with more people across the region,” he told a media conference yesterday.

The acquisition, the 11th by WCCL and the largest since its acquisition of Unza Holdings Ltd in 2007, is part of the company’s vision to emerge as one of the top three players in the personal care category across Asia.

With the deal, Kumar said the Philippines will become WCCL’s fourth-largest market, after India, China and Malaysia.

“Over the past 15 years, WCCL has bought 11 companies, mostly in South-East Asia.

“Its largest deal was in 2007, when it acquired Singapore’s Unza for about Rs1,000 crore (RM598.34 million) and post this acquisition, we will roughly earn 54% of our business from overseas,” he added.

He said Splash’s acquisition would further strengthen the existing brand portfolio and expand Wipro’s market share in Asia with a revenue forecast of US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion) by 2023, compared to US$1 billion at present.

“It will also strengthen our position in the Philippines, as it is Asia’s third-largest self-care and beauty market worth US$4 billion,” he said.

Chander said the acquisition will enable Wipro to further establish its presence in the Philippine market by leveraging on Splash’s distribution and capabilities across key categories, as well as in other countries where Splash has a strong presence — namely Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and across the Middle East.

Splash’s product categories such as the exfoliants and leave-in hair care range are new for WCCL, which has three main segments including Indian household business, international personal care business and the Indian office solutions business.