VLCC, a leading wellness brand in ME region and South Asia, is set to significantly ramp up its presence in the Mena region, having delivered top line and Ebidta growth of 26 per cent and 43 per cent respectively last year.

The brand also delivered a 25 per cent top line and 30 per cent Ebidta growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal, a statement from VLCC said.

"While this build-up has been delivered through organic growth, VLCC is now looking to accelerate this further through aggressive expansion and inorganic growth, for which the funding will come through a combination of debt and private equity," a company official said.

Having finalised organic growth plans to be financed through internal accrual and debt which has already been tied up, VLCC is also going in for a round of private equity funding for acquisition of companies in the wellness space in the region, for which the mandate has been given to the leading investment banking firm, JM Financial.

VLCC has already participated up to the due diligence stage for acquisition of two prominent players in the wellness domain in the Mena and South East Asia regions and will be in a position to make a formal announcement about the same in the coming three to four weeks. Simultaneously, it is currently evaluating three target companies in other geographies, the statement said.

The next 12 months will see VLCC's slimming, beauty and fitness centre (VLCC Centres) operations expanding from the current eight countries of UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal to an additional nine countries, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar with the target of crossing 220 company-owned VLCC Centres globally by 2015.

With companies already incorporated in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the Kuwait operations are slated to commence by January 2013, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt launches are planned for April 2013.

The brand has also initiated a feasibility study to set up a manufacturing facility in either UAE or Bahrain for its VLCC Personal Care line of herbal/natural skin-care, body-care and hair-care products, which have found a ready and fast growing market in the GCC within 5 years of launch.

This will be the group's fourth manufacturing facility, with the first two being already operational in India and the third one to go on-stream by December 2012 in Bangladesh.

VLCC is currently present across over 300 locations in 120 cities in 16 countries through its VLCC Slimming, Beauty & Fitness Centres, the VLCC Institutes of Beauty & Nutrition and the VLCC Personal Care line of skin-care, body-care and hair-care products. – TradeArabia News Service