Ravi Jaipuria-owned Varun Beverages, Burman Family Office, Simba Craft Beer, Le Marche retailer DS Group, Muthoot Family Office, Sunil Munjal’s Hero Corp, and Murugappa Group are among those that have been approached, they said.
A founder of a homegrown private equity firm has also been tapped. Initial funding required to restart operations and revive craft beer brand Bira 91 could be about ₹500 crore, the people said.
“Even though Bira 91 has sizeable equity and consumer recall despite being out of circulation for a year, any potential deal will hinge on clearances of several litigations and liabilities including employee salaries currently weighing down B9,” said one of the persons cited above.
Anicut Capital, Varun Beverages, Burman Family Office, Simba Craft Beer, DS Group, Muthoot Family Office, Hero Corp and Murugappa Group didn’t respond to ET’s queries. ET was the first to report in its July 22 edition that Jain had exited the company after a two-year dispute with shareholders and lenders.
“Corporate houses with obvious synergies have been tapped,” a second person said. “Any potential deal structures, however, will need a complete clean-up of B9 Beverages’ books.”This May, Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s largest bottler outside the US, inked a fresh arrangement with the soft drink maker to also venture into non-PepsiCo businesses, a development that expands its operating bandwidth to diverse potential businesses.
The previous agreement between the two parties restricted VBL to solely operating as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for PepsiCo, preventing it from pursuing independent ventures. Late last year, VBL announced a partnership with Carlsberg Breweries in Africa, to exclusively distribute the beer brand in select African territories.
Burman Family Office currently has interests in hospitality and F&B, with both Gaurav Burman and Amit Burman operating chains such as Taco Bell and Lite Bite restaurants. Murugappa Group has been evaluating more turnaround investment opportunities after its hugely successful bet on CG Power which it had acquired when the company was undergoing financial distress. CG Power was originally a part of the Delhi-based Gautam Thapar group before it changed hands.
On the other hand, DS Group, which makes Catch brand of spices and flavoured water, besides operating Le Marche retail chain has a large consumer-facing distribution heft.
Jain founded Bira 91 in 2015 as India’s first craft beer. With its youth-focused positioning and packaging, Bira 91 rapidly gained consumer equity, attracting marquee investors such as Japan’s Kirin Holdings, Peak XV Partners, and Sofina.