ChrysCapital Set to Acquire Theobroma

Founder and family may retain around 10% stake in bakery chain

- Ranjani Raghavan & Sneha Shah

Homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital is poised to acquire a controlling stake in bakery chain Theobroma Foods for ₹2,200-2,300 crore, two people aware of the development said. The deal will see the complete exit of ICICI Venture, which invested in the company in 2017.

Theobroma founder Kainaz Messman and family may retain around 10% stake in the 194-store bakery network, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. Messman, earlier a pastry chef at Oberoi Hotels, had founded the bakery chain as a single outlet in Mumbai's Colaba Causeway in 2004.

"The deal is likely to be signed in a fortnight. ChrysCapital will buy around 90% stake with an option to acquire more going forward," one of the people cited above said.