ITV

Tag: General Atlantic

  • 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.

  • Tata Consumer Products to acquire Capital Foods

    Tata Consumer Products to acquire Capital Foods

    Mumbai: Tata Consumer Products has announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100 per cent equity shares of Capital Foods, owner of the brands ‘Ching’s Secret’ and  ‘Smith & Jones’, in a phased manner. 75 per cent of the equity shareholding will be acquired  upfront and the balance 25 per cent shareholding will be acquired within the next three years.  This move is consistent with Tata Consumer’s strategic intent to expand its product portfolio and its target addressable market in fast-growing/high-margin categories.

    Capital Foods has strong umbrella platform brands with a portfolio of unique products for in-home consumption in fast-growing categories. Ching’s Secret is a market leader in desi Chinese across its product categories – chutneys, blended masalas, sauces and soups. Smith & Jones is a fast-growing brand catering to in-home cooking of Italian and other western cuisines. Overall, Capital Foods has first or second positions in five large categories.  

    This acquisition will enable Tata Consumer Products to expand its product portfolio and further strengthen its pantry platform. There are significant synergy benefits with the existing businesses of Tata Consumer Products in areas spanning distribution, logistics,  exports and overheads. The overall size of the categories in which Capital Foods operates in is estimated at Rs 21,400 crores. Structural growth drivers for the category include continued growth in income levels, evolving consumer preferences leading to increased salience of global cuisines in in-home cooking, and increasing need for convenience.  

    Tata Consumer Products MD & CEO Sunil D’Souza said, “We are excited to welcome Capital Foods into Tata Consumer Products. We believe this is a good strategic and financial fit. It will open up significant market opportunities in the fast-growing non-Indian cuisines segment, leveraging the sales and distribution platform that we have built. The strong brand recall of Ching’s Secret and Smith & Jones coupled with our operational  strength across channels makes us extremely confident of driving topline growth and realising cost synergies. This transaction will accelerate momentum in our business and  is margin accretive to our business.”

    Capital Foods founder Ajay Gupta said, “Today is a historic day for Capital Foods.  To be associated with the iconic Tata Group is a dream come true for me. Just the  name, ‘Tata’, instils a sense of trust and pride in every Indian. Like Capital Foods, Tata  is a home-grown brand that is globally recognised. Tata Consumer Products is a multi

    conglomerate that spans the globe with quality food ingredients and products. In 28  years, from 3 bottles of sauces, to an entire ‘Desi Chinese’ cuisine block, Ching’s Secret has become a brand to be reckoned with. Smith & Jones covers another food block with tremendous potential. Together, Tata and Capital Foods can create a multi-national culinary brand that includes multiple food categories. The journey ahead is  going to be a giant leap for us, full of endless possibilities and definitely exhilarating!”

    Invus, the global advisor of Artal (a European evergreen family investor) MD Francis Cukierman said, “We are thrilled to have worked closely with Ajay Gupta and contributed to the journey of Capital Foods since 2013. Artal Asia, the Singapore  subsidiary of Artal Group, has decided to continue for the compelling next chapter of  growth of Capital Foods with Tata Consumer for the next few years.”

    General Atlantic managing director and head-India Shantanu Rastogi said: “We have had a great partnership with Ajay Gupta in scaling Chings and Smith & Jones into the most adored brands in their categories. We wish Ajay and Tata Consumer Products the best in the next phase of development of Capital Foods.”

    Kotak Investment Banking and Khaitan & Co have been TCPL’s exclusive financial and legal advisors on this transaction respectively.

  • NoBroker.com adds $30 mn to series D from General Atlantic

    NoBroker.com adds $30 mn to series D from General Atlantic

    MUMBAI: NoBroker.com today announced that it has added USD $30 million to its series D funding taking it to $80 million. This brings the total funding raised by NoBroker to USD $151 million.  The round was led by General Atlantic. This is an extension to its series D funding round of $50 million in October 2019 which was led by Tiger Global and General Atlantic had also participated in that round.

    NoBroker.com is seeking to improve user experience in the real estate industry by making transactions more convenient and affordable. More than 35 lakh properties are already registered on NoBroker and more than 85 lakh individuals have used NoBroker services.

    General Atlantic MD Shantanu Rastogi said, “NoBroker's service and product innovations to improve choice, reduce transactions costs, enhance transparency and deliver convenience are driving significant organic listings and subscriptions on its platform. NoBroker Pay, NoBroker Hood, NoBroker Home Services and several such innovations are deepening the engagement of owners, tenants, buyers and community residents with its platform making it a go-to-destination beyond its core offering of rental and sale transactions. We are excited to back Akhil, Amit and Saurabh in strengthening their leadership position in this huge segment.”

    NoBroker is a one-stop shop for the entire real estate transaction journey ranging from rental, sale or resale to post transaction services like loan, packers and movers, legal documentation, online rent payment, interiors etc.

    NoBroker launched its operations in Delhi-NCR in November 2019 and currently operates across six cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR.  NoBroker  had  acquired  society management and ERP solutions company Society Connect in an all-cash deal in February 2020 to strengthen their Visitor and Society Management app NoBrokerHood, making it a single app that any society would need.

    “NoBroker is making the entire real-estate transaction journey seamless with the help of technology. The huge amount of data we generate on the platform helps us to use machine learning and artificial intelligence leading to faster closures and customise offerings for every customer. The support provided to us by our investors is a testimonial to our ongoing tech innovation. We will further invest in our financial services to make them accessible to more people,” said NoBroker.com CTO and co-founder Akhil Gupta.

    Focus on making the entire transaction easy and affordable for the customers has ensured that NoBroker has gained strong traction in its current cities of operations and the business is currently adding more than 350,000 new users every month.

    “We  are  dedicated  to solve  a problem that  is  unique  to India and  build  India’s largest  real-estate  technology platform that makes transactions affordable and hassle-free. We have been tripling our revenue every year and this funding will help us further improve user experience and enable faster deal closures. We will continue to add value  across  the  user  journey  with  continuous  investment  in  our  home  store  and  NoBrokerHood,”  said NoBroker.com CEO and co-founder Amit Kumar.

    NoBroker.com CBO and co-founder Saurabh Garg said, “We are encouraged by the confidence that General Atlantic has placed in us. We are focused on building India’s largest one-stop platform for all real estate needs. Our growth across verticals tells that our unique model is solving a real customer problem. This funding will help us expand to new cities and also go deeper in the existing cities and service more customers. We will also invest further in our sales vertical."