Mrs Bector’s investor 'looking to divest stake in biscuits business'

Related tags Private equity Goldman sachs India

Rumours persist that one of India’s leading bakery and condiments companies is looking to sell off the controlling stake in its biscuits business to private equity investors.

Quoting “people in the know”, Business Standard reported that Motilal Oswal Private Equity is in talks with PE companies to sell its 23% share in the biscuits wing of Mrs Bector’s Foods, which contributes Rs450cr to Rs500cr (US$72m-80m) to the wider company’s Rs600cr (US$96m) annual revenue.

The sale can take place following a de-merger of the business’s operating units. Mrs Bector’s sells products under the brand name Cremica and supplies buns, liquid condiments, batter and breading to companies like McDonald’s, Hindustan Unilever, Big Bazaar, Air India and Domino’s.

MOPE retained its share in the biscuits business in 2010 when the Mrs Bector’s was split equally by founder Rajni Bector between his three sons.

The private equity company had earlier made its investment of Rs70cr (US$11.2m) in the North Indian company in 2010 by buying out the stake of Jade Garden, the Mauritius-based unit of US banking giant Goldman Sachs, which had invested in 2007, and is expected to make an exit of three times its investment.