PE firms search for regional taste in snacks, spices

Top private equity firms are scouring the country to unearth cash-rich regional food brands with healthy balance sheets that offer good growth potential, industry experts told Mint.

- Priyamvada C. & Mansi Verma

The objective: discover the next Haldiram. The Nagpur-based snacks maker roped in Alpha Wave Global and Temasek Holdings as investors last month, valuing the company at around $10 billion.

According to Pritha Jha, co-founder of Pioneer Legal, a law firm that has helped food brands raise capital, a lot of investment activity in consumer food brands is happening in places like Nashik, Jaipur and Udaipur.

"For a category like snacks, there is immense scope for scalability," said Jha, adding that sometimes when the next generation doesn't want to take the family business forward, PE firms get more interested. Further, several snack brands offer authentic taste patterns specific to particular regions, which allows them to distinguish themselves to private equity, Jha said.