Brands
Inspira’s hunger games: Chinese Wok owner to gobble up Burger King India for Rs 1,500 crore
NEW DELHI: The king is dead. Long live the king. Burger King India is changing hands in a sizzling Rs 1,500-crore deal that sees Inspira Global—led by Aayush Madhusudan Agrawal—flipping the script on quick-service restaurants. The acquisition, announced on 20 January, marks Everstone Capital’s complete exit after a 12-year reign building India’s Whopper empire from scratch.
Inspira Global, whose food and beverage arm Lenexis Foodworks already operates over 250 Chinese Wok restaurants across 45-plus cities, is paying Rs 70 per share—a tasty 10 per cent premium to the closing price. The deal comprises three courses: Rs 460 crore to buy out QSR Asia’s entire 11.26 per cent stake, Rs 900 crore through preferential allotment of equity shares, and Rs 600 crore via warrants convertible within 18 months. Once fully digested, Lenexis will command a 26.74 per cent stake, assuming all warrants are exercised.
The transaction triggers a mandatory open offer to public shareholders under takeover regulations. Restaurant Brands Asia—as Burger King India is now formally known—has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting for 13 February to secure shareholder approval. The menu also includes hiking authorised share capital from Rs 700 crore to Rs 900 crore and granting special rights to the new promoters.
Board composition will get a thorough reshuffle. Out go non-executive directors Roshini Hemant Bakshi and Amit Manocha. In come Inspira’s nominees, who’ll hold four board seats as long as their collective stake stays above 25 per cent, dropping to three seats if it falls between 15 and 25 per cent. Ajay Kaul, currently a non-executive director who holds a two per cent stake in Lenexis, will switch hats to become a nominee director for the acquirers.
The new promoters will also gain the right to appoint the managing director and chief executive officer—cementing operational control over the 575-outlet chain that spans India and Indonesia, where it also operates Popeyes restaurants.
Whole-time director and group chief executive officer Rajeev Varman struck an upbeat tone: “We are excited to welcome Aayush Agrawal and Inspira Global as our new promoter. With their strong track record of value creation in India, long-term capital support and strategic alignment, we believe this will enable us to continue our strong growth journey.”
Aayush Agrawal himself waxed enthusiastic about the acquisition: “We see this as a long-term value creation initiative through focused sustainable growth and realising the true potential offered by the market. The investment strengthens Inspira Global’s focus on consumer businesses and deepens our presence in the high-growth QSR segment.”
Everstone co-founder and group chief executive officer Sameer Sain reflected on the journey: “We opened India’s first Burger King 12 years ago with a distinctive menu, an exceptional management team, and the ambition to build a marquee QSR brand. Today, with over 575 outlets, those foundations remain firmly in place.”
Restaurant Brands International – the global owner of Burger King and Popeyes — president for Asia-Pacific Rafael Odorizzi welcomed the new partnership: “We are pleased with Inspira Global’s commitment to making a significant investment in RBA and look forward to working with them as long-term partners.”
The deal requires approval from the Competition Commission of India, BSE, and NSE. Bathiya Advisors advised on the transaction, while Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors serves as manager to the open offer. The board meeting that sealed the deal was impressively efficient—lasting just 28 minutes from 8:10pm to 8:38pm.
One promoter exits medium rare, another enters well done.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
Brands
Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion
Bengaluru: Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.
The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.
The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.
Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.
To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.
Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.
Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.
The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.
The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.
Brands
TechnoSport taps quick commerce with launch on Slikk’s 60-minute platform
NATIONAL: TechnoSport has launched on Slikk, the ultra-fast fashion app offering 60-minute delivery, as the activewear brand accelerates its push into quick commerce to capture Gen Z and young millennial shoppers.
The debut brings more than 150 high-performance styles to Slikk’s platform, with an average selling price of Rs 450, expanding TechnoSport’s reach across over 80 pin codes.
The partnership follows strong momentum for TechnoSport across Q-commerce channels, where the brand has recorded around 60 per cent volume growth over the past six months. The company expects quick commerce to contribute nearly 20 per cent of its revenue in the coming years as hyperlocal delivery gains scale.
Slikk, which recently raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, has rapidly gained popularity among youth consumers seeking speed, trend relevance and impulse-led shopping experiences.
Activewear remains one of Slikk’s fastest-growing categories, driven by shoppers increasingly treating fitness-led fashion as an everyday essential. The platform has reported a 30-fold year-on-year increase in items sold, reflecting rising demand for performance wear that blends comfort with style.
TechnoSport chief executive officer Puspen Maity, said the collaboration would help the brand engage more closely with young consumers whose fashion choices are shaped by instant needs and lifestyle aspirations. He added that rapid delivery bridges the gap between intent and purchase, allowing shoppers to access activewear exactly when they want it.
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