Indian consumer goods maker Marico Ltd. (531642.BY) Monday said its unit has acquired a hair-styling brand in Malaysia from U.S.-based Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) in a move aimed at growing its Southeast Asian business faster.

Marico Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. bought the brand 'Code 10', as well as the intellectual property rights related to the brand, from Colgate-Palmolive, Marico said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

It didn't provide financial terms in the statement.

"This (acquisition) is important for us because we wanted a country entry in Southeast Asia. This is our beachhead for further expansion in this region," Milind Sarwate, chief of finance, human resources and strategy at Marico, told news channel CNBC-TV18.

Sarwate said the Code 10 brand--comprising hair creams and hair gels--has an about 10% share of the estimated MYR150 million Malaysian hair-styling market.

Marico already has a presence in Malaysia through its Parachute and Nihar coconut oil brands.

Colgate-Palmolive has sold the Code 10 brand in line with its strategy to focus on its oral, personal and pet care businesses, the statement said.

Marico receives about 18% of its overall revenue from its international operations--about 9% comes from markets in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, 7% from the Middle East and North Africa and about 2% from South Africa.

Marico has been active on the acquisitions front overseas. It bought the consumer products unit of South Africa's Enaleni Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in October 2007. It also acquired the Fiancee and HairCode brands in Egypt in 2006.

 
   By Rumman Ahmed and Ameya Karve, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-9845104173; rumman.ahmed@dowjones.com
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