Industry sources said that Marico has sent feelers to the Oomerbhoys for a possible buy out of Postman, owned by the privately-held Ahmed Oomerbhoy. This would give Marico a significant foothold in the packed groundnut-oil segment of the vegetable-oils market.

Ahmed Oomerbhoy, senior partner, Rashid S Oomerbhoy, however, said that Postman was not up for sale and that the company would not part with the brand, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of its around Rs 75-crore turnover.

The Oomerbhoys are trying to recast their corporate asset holdings, and resolve sundry legal wranglings that have held up their business.

Postman has a market share of around 65 per cent in the packed groundnut-oil segment. Postman, priced at around Rs 900 per 15-litre tin, faced severe competition from NDDB's Dhara, which is priced at a 25 per cent discount to Postman.

Dhara issaid to have garnered around 30 per cent market share. The size of the groundnut oil market is around 120,000 tonnes.

The company recently launched a new variant under the Postman brand, Sona, a sunflower oil. This market is dominated by ITC and Marico. Multinational Hindustan Lever has a small presence in the north with its sunflower oil-brand Flora.

The Oomerbhoys are working on a restructuring plan for their family business which was started off by Ahmed Oomerbhoy over 85 years back. The business was passed down to Ahmed Oomerbhoy's sons S Oomerbhoy and Majid Oomerbhoy and is now being run by S Oomerbhoy's sons Rashid Oomerbhoy and Majid Oomerbhoy.

With the third generation now in the picture, and coupled with an ongoing litigation issue, the plans to restructure may mean a possible division owing to differing interests. "The restructuring will be complete within six months. We should know the outcome in a month's time," said Rashid Oomerbhoy.

The company will also be shifting its factory fromGrant Road to Mankur in Chembur, where the company owns 20 acres of land. This is likely to take shape almost simultaneously when the settlement for separating the family business, having a turnover of around Rs 180 crore, is reached. The company now deals only in oils, but a decade ago it was also into manufacturing soaps for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Tomco and Reckitt & Colman. The company closed down its soap unit five years back. It's cold storage factory at Thane, which dealt in export of meat, fish and shrimps, also faced closure during the same period owing to a litigation problem.

The company, amid prevailing family squabble, and apart from constantly upgrading its flagship brand Postman, is also working at reviving its coconut hair-oil brand, AO, which has been overshadowed by Parachute.

AO lost sufficient market share to Parachute, which is now the leader. The new-look AO will mark its presence at the retail end within three months, said Oomerbhoy. At present, the company is curtailingthe presence of old-look AO to prepare for its relaunch. The brand might see an initial launch phase in Mumbai.