Sunshine Consumer extends its portfolio beyond tea with the acquisition of Daintee Limited

Consumer sector of the Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings (CSE: SUN), has completed its acquisition of a leading Sri Lankan confectionery company Daintee Limited, adding several prestigious brands to its portfolio, including Daintee, Milady and Bensons. The transaction was valued at Rs. 1.7 billion.

This move comes at a time where Sunshine as a Group looks to strategically expand its presence in Sri Lanka’s fast-growing FMCG segment by extending its portfolio beyond tea, where they hold the No. 1 position. Daintee joins Sunshine Consumer’s growing portfolio of businesses that markets and distributes some of the country’s most-loved tea brands—Watawala, Zesta and Ran Kahata. The acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy to nurture and build local brands.

Daintee Limited, founded in 1984 in collaboration with Barker and Dobson, a prestigious U.K. confectionery company, is a market leader in the sweets and toffee category in Sri Lanka. At present, the company boasts of an extensive product range consisting of toffees, sweets, jellies, chocolates and cocoa-based confectionery, bubblegum, desserts, biscuits and snacks where Daintee maintains a 40% market share in toffees and sweets. The products are marketed under the brand names such as Daintee, Milady, Bensons, Chito, Chix, X-tra, Mr. Bitz, Excella and Longlive.

“We are pleased to welcome Daintee Limited’s confectionery brands and its talented employees to the Sunshine Group,” said Sunshine Group Managing Director Vish Govindasamy. “Daintee’s portfolio of brands are household names which have gained popularity and loyalty across generations. The addition of the Daintee portfolio of brands is a significant step towards Sunshine Consumer’s aim of being a strong player in the FMCG sector. With our marketing prowess that has enabled us to be the No.1 branded tea company in Sri Lanka, we hope to achieve the vision we have for every one of our brands to be the No. 1 in their sector of influence.”

The company has two primary manufacturing sites and four other locations for warehousing and packaging in the Ratmalana industrial zone. Furthermore, Daintee Limited is certified with ISO 9001:2015 and is the only confectioner in the country with an advanced microbiology testing centre.