Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. Many companies across the world are lined up to buy a stake in Haldiram, a leading company making snacks and sweets. However, Haldiram is now considering raising money through an IPO. The Agarwal family wants a valuation of $ 12 billion for the company but it has received offers at a valuation of eight to 8.5 billion dollars. This is the reason why the promoter family is now considering bringing an IPO of the company. A consortium led by the world's largest private equity company Blackstone Inc and Temasek Holdings Ltd and Bain Capital made an offer last month to buy a controlling stake in Haldiram. For this, Haldiram's valuation was estimated at 8 to 8.5 billion dollars i.e. Rs 66,400 to 70,500 crores. According to sources, the idea of IPO is still in its initial stage and the Agarwal family can manage with stake sale by doing some negotiation. A representative of Haldiram declined to comment on this.
Boom in capital market
In recent times, the primary market in the country has seen a lot of growth. Due to the boom in the market, about $ 3.9 billion has been raised through IPOs so far this year. IPOs of more than two dozen companies are coming up in the next two months. The target is to raise Rs 30,000 crore through these. Haldiram's valuation is around Rs 83,000 crore according to the sales of its business in the financial year 2022. The Haldiram brand was started in 1937 by Ganga Bisan Agarwal. Today its business is spread across more than 100 countries. The company sells more than 400 types of food items. These include namkeen, sweets, snacks, ready to eat food, frozen food, biscuits, confectionery, ready to drink beverages and pasta etc.
India's snacks market set to grow
The company also exports to many countries outside India including many countries in Europe and America. According to a report by research firm IMARC Group, India's snacks market was worth Rs 42,694 crore in 2023 and is expected to reach Rs 95,521 crore by 2032. Haldiram's main competition in India's snacks and namkeen market is from Balaji Wafers, Bikanerwala Foods, ITC, Parle Products and PepsiCo etc. Haldiram's share in India's snack food market is 21% while PepsiCo's share is 15%. About 3,000 small and regional players have a 40% share in this market. The Agarwal family now plans to merge the snacks business and create a separate company for the restaurant chain.
