KARACHI, Dec 31: Many business houses are now flexing their muscles to acquire the Unilever's edible oil business Dalda following the company's decision to sell it in Pakistan as a part of its global strategy to "focus on core business".

Among the leading players who are said to be interested in the brand are four to five parties including Habib Oil Mills, Lakson Group and some Arab-based companies.

Market is swirling with the reports that Lakson Group has been in the forefront to acquire Dalda. Currently the said group does not have any share in edible oil market.

Sources said that Lakson Group has some reservations on the price of Rs1 billion, the Unilever is said to have demanded. When a senior executive in Lakson Group was contacted, he said "the group is currently not interested and is no longer in the run to acquire Dalda."

However, Habib Oil Mills (HOM), a strong rival of Dalda, looks keen to buy Dalda. "We are interested. At the moment we are in the process of working out strategies," a senior executive HOM, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn on Wednesday. "Actually we are waiting for certain vital information to come," he added.

To a query that sales and operating profits of edible oil business of Unilever have been on the decline, the HOM official said: "it is a temporary phenomenon."

As no details have come out about the actual worth of Dalda business, market people are assessing their worth between Rs600 to Rs1 billion.

General Manager Corporate Affairs, Unilever, Sher Afzal Mazari declined to give any details about the number of interested parties that contacted Unilever, specific time period of Dalda business sale, contracting of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) as its financial adviser to sell the brand and Dalda business's actual worth.

"No decision has been made so far regarding the sale of Dalda business," he said adding that "we are assessing the possibilities right now." "I can only say that the future of Dalda business would be decided in next few months," Mazari said.

Sales of cooking oil and ghee products stood at Rs2.919 billion in January-September 2003 as compared to Rs3.152 billion. To a query whether the sales decline would be a negative point for the interested parties, he said the business would definitely emerge as "profitable" by the end of calender year and results based on quarterly reports cannot judge the company's sale performance.

He, however, said that around 200 employees are working in the ghee and cooking oil business. The Unilever will take every aspects of mutual interest with shareholders, employees, distributors, partners, etc., before selling the business. The company produces 60,000-70,000 tons of cooking oil products every year.

It may be mentioned here that Hindustan Lever sold the edible oil business to a US based company for Rs900-950 million Indian rupees. The sale includes the Dalda brand and its various extensions.

The turnover of Hindustan Lever was around Rs4 billion. The transfer of business would include a manufacturing facility, with about 300 employees with continuity of service and full protection for them.

Meanwhile, market sources said that one of the conditions of the takeover of Dalda business by other business house also includes a condition of transfer of 200 employees working in the edible oil segment. Besides, HSBC has been given the mandate to act as financial adviser.

They said that those companies, who had shown their interest in Dalda, had been informed to submit their offers by January 15, 2004. Interested parties are now analysing the situation whether the takeover of Dalda, a popular brand in Pakistan for decades, will prove really feasible at a time of stiffening competition from unbranded oil and ghee and rising market share of regional brands in the country.

Despite suffering sale loss, manufacturers of Dalda continued to invest heavily on advertisement of their brands besides introducing various new brands of ghee and cooking oil.