Everstone exits India bakery business

Everstone bought Modern in 2015 for about $40 million from Hindustan Unilever, which had acquired the company in 2000 as part of a government privatization program. This was Everstone's first corporate carve-out.

Modern's orange and blue label dates back to 1965 and is considered iconic. The company was one of only two nationally recognized baking players at the time of Everstone's acquisition, but it was considered under-invested and underperforming. The core thesis of the investment was that the latent equity of the brand was larger than the business.

The private equity firm's main value-add contribution was to relaunch the brand in 2017, establishing a more consistent consumer-facing identity across sub-regions and standardizing production and packaging. Previously, operations across the country were uncoordinated, making it difficult to analyze operations and develop consumer loyalty.

Aseem Soni, a food industry veteran recruited as CEO immediately after the acquisition, oversaw a consolidation of the distribution and an expansion of the factory footprint from six to seven locations. This coincided with a diversification of the product portfolio from a strong focus on white bread to include a variety of brown breads, cakes, muffins, and Indian flatbreads. Market share is now said to be 35-40%.

"We had a phenomenal experience in rejuvenating the legacy brand of Modern and bringing it to the dining table of consumers again," Roshini Bakshi, a managing director at Everstone, said in a statement. "Modern has unlocked its potential through its portfolio expansion and wider reach thereby exhibiting tremendous growth. I wish Grupo Bimbo the best for future and hope they continue to grow bigger and better."

Grupo Bimbo is the largest baking company in the world, operating in 33 countries, including India, and has a portfolio of over 13,000 products and more than 100 renowned brands. The company entered India in 2017 with the acquisition of bakery brand Harvest Gold, also known as Ready Roti India. It has reportedly been in talks to acquire Modern since September last year.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Trade sale
• Consumer
• South Asia
• India
• Everstone Capital
• Food
• manufacturing