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.
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.
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.
