Highlights:
- KFC India operator secures ₹ 1,150 crore from a clutch of investors
- Sapphire Foods is the largest franchisee of YUM! Brands in the Indian sub-continent in terms of revenue in the FY 2020
- Sapphire Foods operates 437 restaurants in total
Sapphire Foods Mauritius Limited (Sapphire Mauritius) which is promoted by Samara Capital Management Limited (Samara Capital), has secured a strategic round of investment into its flagship restaurant and food services company, Sapphire Foods India Limited (Sapphire Foods) from a consortium of private equity funds which was led by Creador, NewQuest Capital Partners, and TR Capital.
Sapphire Foods has raised a direct round of growth capital from Creador. The new investors have invested more than ₹1,150 crore in a mix of the primary and secondary rounds.
Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sapphire Foods while the UBS Investment Bank acted as the exclusive placement agent and financial advisor to Samara Capital Management Limited in this investment round.
Sapphire Foods has attracted a lot of big names with investors such as Samara Capital Group, Goldman Sachs, CX Partners and Edelweiss.
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Sapphire Foods is an omnichannel restaurant operator and the largest franchisee of YUM! Brands in the Indian sub-continent when looked at from the perspective of revenue in the financial year 2020, operating 437 restaurants of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, as of March 31, 2021.
Sumeet Narang, Founder and Managing Director (MD) at Samara Indian Advisors Pvt Ltd said, “We believe that the business has a strong foundation and is on an inflexion point for growth. This investment round is to fund our new store expansion and providing a partial exit for a few investors”.
Sapphire Foods is led by Sanjay Purohit, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and a professional management team, with robust corporate governance practices, and clearly defined company values that help guide organisation behaviour and culture.
The QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) chain segment also known as Fast Food Restaurant, largely represented by global brands, is the fastest growing segment within the organized food services market in India.
The Managing Director (MD) and Co-Head India, Creador, Kabir Thakur said, “Sapphire Foods, by leveraging customer loyalty to the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands is well-positioned to capture further opportunities in the territories in which it operates and expand into other product lines or markets”.
