In a market where big is increasingly better, the move by brothers Shamsher Puri and Jasmer Puri to merge their companies, Dusters Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, and Total Solutions Facility Management Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, respectively, is aimed at consolidation and further growth. The new entity, which is yet to be named, will have a pan-India presence with over 16,000 employees spread across 600 client sites.
Speaking to CIJ on making this merger, Jasmer Puri said, “The two companies were operating in complementary geographies and it made sense to get together to enable delivery of consistently high quality service to our clients, many of who are multi-location and pan India. Our vision is to be among the top three integrated service providers offering benchmarked services and as a preferred partner to leading clients across verticals. This merger, thus facilitates superior responsiveness to the needs of the market while delivering synergy and scale benefits from the combined size and structure. This is the right time, as in the next couple of years; the demand for professional cleaning will drive industry consolidation towards creating companies that have the capability to deliver a bouquet of services across locations.”
The merger process is expected to be completed by March 2010. The combined entity will seek to grow aggressively both through organic as well as inorganic means. As part of such initiatives, private equity from TVS Capital Funds has been infused in exchange for a significant minority holding in the merged entity.
