Dabur's holding will be formally transferred to the Spanish company after it obtains a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval, a senior company official said on Tuesday. "We have exited the confectionary business by selling off our 49 per cent stake in GCI to Agrolimen for Rs 35 crore," director of Dabur India PD Narang said. This deal comes on top of Dabur's reducing its stake by 20 per cent in another joint venture - Excelsia Foods - earlier this month to become a minority partner.

The company divested its stake to Swiss major Nestle SA for $2.5 million, becoming a 40 per cent stake holder in the biscuits and extruded foods venture. Dabur's ouster from GCI comes after the Rs 800-crore group employed management consultants McKinsey & Co formapping out a comprehensive restructuring plan for its varied businesses.

McKinsey had in turn suggested that the group move out from areas which do not comprise its core competencies -- ayurveda and health care products -- to improve profitability.

Following yet another recommendation by McKinsey, Dabur India is also moving out from the finance business -- for which lead managers had been appointed late last year and details about the sale are still awaited.

Replying to questions on the proposed exit from finance business, DIL's chairman and managing director GC Burman had said earlier that this move was necessitated due to the fast changing market situation.

Finance was considered a bright area even about two years back as corporates with excess liquidity entered this area. These trends have died due to professional finance companies and it has become a specialised job, Burman had said. "We now feel it could have been left to another agency," he added.

While setting up the confectionary jointventure GCI in 1994, DIL had estimated that the booming candy and bubble gum market would provide it with ample opportunity to turn the venture into a profit maker, industry analysts said.