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Tag: Bain Capital

  • Singapore’s Temasek bags a tasty morsel of Indian snack giant Haldiram’s

    Singapore’s Temasek bags a tasty morsel of Indian snack giant Haldiram’s

    MUMBAI:  Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek has finally taken a bite out of India’s snack market, snapping up a 10 per cent slice of Haldiram’s for a whopping $ one billion. 

    The deal, which values the bhujia behemoth at an eye-watering $10 billion, comes after months of negotiations and sees Temasek trumping several heavyweight rivals who baulked at the hefty price tag.

    bhujias

    American private equity titan Blackstone pulled out of the race just over a week ago, finding the valuation too hard to swallow after seven months of talks. Other potential suitors, including Bain Capital, General Atlantic, and even Tata Consumer Products, had previously walked away from the table.

    Haldiram’s journey from a tiny shop in Bikaner, Rajasthan in 1937 to commanding nearly 13 per cent of India’s $6.2 billion (almost Rs 60,000 crore) savoury snacks market has been nothing short of remarkable.

    The company’s most popular offering, “bhujia” – a crispy fried snack made with flour, herbs and spices – sells for as little as Rs 10 in corner shops across the country and has helped turn the family-run business into a global operation spanning 100 countries.

    Haldiram Snacks Foods posted a tidy profit of Rs 1,400 crore in FY24 on revenues of Rs 12,800 crore, excluding its Rs 1,800 crore  restaurant business, which wasn’t part of the Temasek deal.

    Not content with just one slice of the pie, the Agarwal family that controls Haldiram’s is reportedly looking to offload another five per cent stake for around $500 million as part of a pre-IPO placement.

    Haldiram savouries

    Industry insiders suggest the family had initially sought an even higher valuation, but recent wobbles in the Indian stock market and lacklustre quarterly results from food companies forced a reality check.

    The deal represents a significant expansion of Temasek’s Indian portfolio, which already includes stakes in Manipal Hospitals and KFC and Pizza Hut operator Devyani International.

    For Haldiram’s, which has diversified into ready-to-eat foods, beverages, chocolates and retail supermarkets, the cash injection could fuel further expansion in a market predicted to more than double to Rs  95,521.8 crore by 2032. That’s a scorchingly hot pace.

    Hot indeed – and with traditional Indian snacks now accounting for over half of all salty snack sales in the country, it seems the crunch is only just beginning.

  • FILA 2025 honours leaders, sparks dialogue on India’s business future

    FILA 2025 honours leaders, sparks dialogue on India’s business future

    MUMBAI: Leadership, vision, and resilience take centre stage as Forbes India Leadership Awards (FILA) 2025 gears up for its grand 14th edition on 28 February 2025. With a power-packed lineup of industry trailblazers, economic thinkers, and visionary entrepreneurs, the event promises insights, inspiration, and accolades for those shaping India’s business landscape.

    The journey to this prestigious evening began in December 2024, when a distinguished jury—chaired by Marico’s founder and chairman Harsh Mariwala—began the task of identifying the best in leadership, innovation, and impact. The panel featured financial and business heavyweights such as Federal Bank MD & CEO KVS Manian, Bain Capital’s India chairman Amit Chandra, and Boat Lifestyle’s chairman Vivek Gambhir, among others.

    This year’s FILA 2025 will not only honour leaders but also spark dynamic discussions on India’s evolving business landscape. Key highlights include a panel discussion on India’s Growth Story in a Volatile Environment, featuring KVS Manian, Rajesh Jejurikar, and Madan Sabnavis, exploring economic resilience and future opportunities. Tata Power CEO Praveer Sinha will take the stage for a fireside chat on India’s energy transition, shedding light on the sector’s transformation.

    Adding a touch of glamour and business acumen, movie actor and entrepreneur Katrina Kaif will share insights on ‘Going Beyond Endorsements—Building Your Brand,’ offering a glimpse into her journey from actor to business leader.  

    Supported by partners including Federal Bank, Kia, Rajasthan Tourism, and Reliance Industries, FILA 2025 is set to honour leaders who not only drive business success but also shape India’s future.

  • Kantar to continue India investment, increase talent pool & improve tech after deal with Bain Capital

    Kantar to continue India investment, increase talent pool & improve tech after deal with Bain Capital

    MUMBAI: Research agency Kantar is aspiring to invest more in its global delivery centres and further strengthen its core insight and consulting business in India post the 60 per cent stake sale to Bain Capital. The WPP-held company also emphasised on its India business.

    Speaking to journalists worldwide via a conference call, Kantar chief executive officer Eric Salama said that India is one of the biggest and most important markets for Kantar and the association with Bain will not change anything in the way they do business here.

    “India is important for us not only because it is a big market but also because we have got a lot of data centres there, which are playing a big role in the rest of the world. We also run our largest delivery systems out of Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Pune. We will continue to invest in the Indian market. There is a real desire to invest more in the delivery centres, as they are world-class, and as well as in the core insight and consulting business within India,” Salama noted.

    He highlighted Kantar’s strategy post the changes in its ownership over the 40-minute long call. He said that with the new association with Bain, it is going to put more focus on ramping up its acquisition activities as well as becoming a tech and data-led firm that can deliver real-time data to clients.

    Salama said, “We are focusing on becoming much more tech-led, faster, and a real-time predictive organisation. Being a part of Bain Capital, from a capability point of view and from a money point of view, would be enormously helpful in doing that.”

    The firm is also looking to increase the length and breadth of its talent pool, Salama mentioned. “We think the world is becoming one where we need more and more specialists around certain areas and build capabilities around media ROI and engineering capacities. We are becoming a much more tech-centric company and adding more data scientists (to our talent pool). We have around 1500 of them around the world and we are going to scale that quite considerably. We are also going to add lots of consultants to deliver a greater client impact.”

    He added that the firm is investing in real-time and predictive offers for its clients as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence. It will also be working more on its cross-media measurement techniques to deliver better cross-media management to its clients.

    He elaborated on how Kantar is working towards incorporating more technologies and manpower in its business across various verticals like Trade Optimisation, World Panel, and the Kantar Marketplace to deliver more precise and timely data to its clients across the globe. “We are scaling our differentiated solutions. We have introduced a lot of innovation in the market over the last 18 months and now we have the focus on scaling those globally and consistently for all our clients.”

  • WPP announces proposed sale of 60 per cent of Kantar to Bain Capital

    WPP announces proposed sale of 60 per cent of Kantar to Bain Capital

    MUMBAI: One of the world’s largest advertising agencies, WPP, announced on Friday that it has entered into an agreement to sell 60 per cent stake in Kantar to US-based private equity firm Bain Capital. After severe turmoil in the last two years, especially after founder Martin Sorrell’s departure, the company is figuring out new ways to grow.

    “Kantar is a great business and we look forward to working with Bain Capital to unlock its full potential. As a strategic partner and shareholder in Kantar, WPP will continue to benefit from its future growth while our clients continue to benefit from its services and capabilities. I would like to thank Eric Salama, his team and everyone at Kantar for their tremendous contribution to WPP – a contribution that will continue as we develop the business together,” WPP chief executive officer Mark Read said.

    “This transaction creates value for WPP shareholders and further simplifies our company. With a much stronger balance sheet and a return of approximately 8 per cent of our current market value to shareholders planned, we are making good progress with our transformation,” he added.

    The proposed transaction of Bain Capital’s acquisition of 60 per cent of Kantar creates a strong partnership with WPP to accelerate the development of Kantar along with valuing it at c.$4 billion. WPP also highlighted that proceeds on completion, after tax and continuing investment in Kantar, were expected to be about $3.1 billion. It will further simplify and reposition WPP for growth, whilst unlocking significant value for shareholders.

    “Our new ownership structure presents a great opportunity for Kantar, our employees and our clients. In Bain Capital we have a partner who shares our ambition, brings relevant expertise and – with WPP – can help us accelerate our growth and impact for clients. We are focused on delivering ‘human understanding at scale and speed’ and the ‘best of Kantar’ more consistently. We will do so by investing more in talent and by becoming a more technology-driven solutions provider,” said Kantar CEO Eric Salama.

    “We believe that we are well-positioned to support Kantar, alongside WPP, in driving forward the business in a rapidly changing industry. Our deep sector knowledge, operational expertise and strong track record of partnering with management teams to accelerate growth gives us confidence that we can help Kantar grow both organically and by acquisition,” Bain Capital Private Equity managing director Christophe Jacobs van Merlen said.