Nestlé India has its door open for potential acquisitions, with a clear focus on familiar business areas, synergistic opportunities, and cultural alignment, said Nestle India's Chairman and Managing Director, Suresh Narayanan. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he outlined the company's clear approach to mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with inorganic growth opportunities.

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He said the company remains hungry for new opportunities and aims to continue its success in the market with strategic moves. The three fundamental criteria include focusing on businesses within their expertise, seeking synergies to bring tangible value, and ensuring a cultural fit with the target company, he said.

"I think the three principles that we use for M&A are very clear. Number one is that it should be in the area of business that we operate in or are familiar with. Number two is as a result of synergies — we should be able to bring something to the table. It's not just empty calories that we just add on a turnover and feel happy about it."

Narayanan added that size alone is not the sole consideration; instead, the emphasis is on creating overall value without diluting the company's growth prospects significantly. "...size alone doesn't matter, it is also the value that we bring to the table. And thirdly and very importantly, it is also the cultural fit and the competitive fit of the target company with Nestlé."

"So these are the three primary criteria, and the fourth one, of course, is that so long as it doesn't dilute the overall value creation of the company significantly or in fact, in some cases, possibly even accretive to the company, that would be a good thing. But these are the three or four criteria that we use quite transparently and are working with. So the fork and spoon are ready, the napkin is ready, the dish is in front of me and I do hope that we make something happen," he said.

First Published:Jul 31, 2023 8:57 PM IST