Dabur India today announced the acquisition of Hobi Kozmetik Group, a leading personal care products company in Turkey, for $69 million (about Rs324 crore), to expand its markets in West Asia and North Africa.

Dabur's overseas subsidiary, Dabur International Ltd, acquired 100-per cent stake in three Hobi Group firms - Hobi Kozmetik, Zeki Plastik and Ra Pazarlama, in Dabur's first-ever overseas acquisition.

Dabur, which is aggressively expanding in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, expects to complete the transaction by September this year.

The acquisition of Hobi Kozmetik is in line with Dabur's global strategy of scaling up FMCG operations, the company said in a release.

"This acquisition is an important step towards further consolidating and expanding our already substantial presence in the Middle East and North Africa region," Dabur India chairman Dr Anand Burman said.

Hobi Kozmetik is a leading manufacturer of personal care products in Turkey. The company is a market leader in the hair gel category with a 35 per cent share, and markets a wide range of hair care and skin care products under the 'Hobby' and 'New Era' brands. The company markets its products across 35 countries, including the Middle East and North Africa.

"The acquisition offers Dabur an entry into an attractive new market like Turkey, and adds to our portfolio a host of popular international brands that enjoy pole position in their respective categories. Hobi's brands complement Dabur's portfolio, categories, offering us a strong platform to enter newer product categories and markets," Dabur India Ltd. CEO Mr. Sunil Duggal said.

Dabur had recently acquired Fem Care Pharma, its second domestic acquisition after the buy-out of Balsara's Hygiene and Home products businesses.

"This transaction, too, will offer us substantial synergies and an opportunity to broaden the company's product portfolio to further capitalise on the emerging opportunities in domestic and international markets," Dabur India group director P D Narang said.

The board of directors of Dabur India Limited today also approved the unaudited financial results of the company for the fiscal first quarter ended 30 June 2010.

Dabur reported India reported a 20.5 per cent growth in is net profit for the first quarter of the financial year 2010-11 at Rs107.39 crore, against Rs89.09 crore in the similar quarter of the previous year.

Riding on strong volume-driven growth across key categories like hair oils, skin care, toothpastes, health supplements, digestives, foods and home care Dabur reported a 19.5 per cent growth in its consolidated revenue for the period at Rs924.38 crore against Rs773.60 crore in Q1 of 2009-10.