$10 billion bhujia: What's behind Haldiram's stratospheric valuation?
Haldiram Snacks Food, India's biggest maker of bhujia and other ethnic snacks, Singaporean private equity firm Temasek signed a definitive agreement to buy 10% in the company at a valuation of $10 billion on Tuesday night, ET has reported based on information from executives directly aware of the developments.
To command such a high valuation, Haldiram promoters, the Agarwal family, had been sprucing up its operations. The two business branches of the Haldiram group, Delhi and Nagpur, are being merged through a plan approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The promoter family also roped in a professional CEO in May 2023, a first for the company.
Yet, the $10 billion ask by the promoters was not found convincing by several interested parties even though the iconic brand that started in 1937 with a tiny shop in the city of Bikaner in Rajasthan has grown into a mega business sprawling across products as well as territories, commanding leadership in a highly fragmented sector of ethnic savouries and snacks.
How Haldiram's high valuation deterred many buyers
Since 2016-17, several private equity firms including — General Atlantic, Bain Capital, Capital International, TA Associates, Warburg Pincus, Everstone — have been talking with the Agarwal family for a stake in the company. Subsequently, Kellog’s and Pepsico had prolonged discussions for the acquisition of 51% or more, only to walk away as the Agarwal family periodically kept changing their stance and price demand. Even Tata Consumer Products made a
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