Barbeque Nation, Red Apple Kitchen jointly acquire 53.3% stake in Blue Planet Foods

livemint.com:

₹23.1 crore and will be funded through internal accruals, said Barbeque Nation. Blue Planet runs an a-la-carte pan Indian cuisine restaurant chain under the brand name ‘Salt’. It was started by Chef Goutham Balasubramanium and Chef Balaji Balachander in 2013.

Currently, Blue Planet operates 6 restaurants and has 2 restaurants under construction. “….the Share Subscription & Share Purchase Agreement and Shareholders’ Agreement are executed to acquire 1,282 and 4,518 equity shares constituting 11.77% and 41.49% of paid-up share capital of Blue Planet Foods Private Limited (Blue Planet) by the Company and its subsidiary Red Apple Kitchen Consultancy Private Limited (Red Apple), respectively," Barbeque Nation said in an exchange filing. The proposed acquisition will complement the Barbeque Nation’s existing offerings and will also expand its brand portfolio, said the company.

Post the acquisition, Blue Planet will become a subsidiary of Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited. In FY23, Blue Planet reported revenue at ₹32.8 crore with 19.4% EBITDA margin and 10% PAT margin. “The acquisition is in line with the Barbeque Nation’s strategy of brand expansion through inorganic route," BNHL said.

The brand ‘Salt’ has an attractive unit economics with high ROCE, added BNHL. ‘Salt’ has an APC of ₹900- 1,000 and average annual sales of more than Rs 6 crore. For the first quarter of financial year 2023-24, Barbeque Nation Hospitality had posted a loss of ₹4.05 crore in comparison to a profit of ₹16.03 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY23.