WestBridge offers $52m for controlling stake in India's DFM

The GP, which already holds a 25% stake in DFM that it bought in 2014 for INR645 million, plans to buy a further 2.6 million shares from public shareholders to increase its stake to 51%. According to a filing, WestBridge is offering INR1,320 per share, below the stock's closing price of INR1,486 on April 12 but considerably above the INR259 per share that it paid for its existing stake.

DFM, which spun off from Delhi Flour Mills in 1984, makes a range of packaged snack foods targeted at children. Its best known product is Crax Corn Rings; it also produces Crax Namkeens and Natkhat, a low fat crunchy wheat puff. DFM's biggest presence is in northern India; it also markets in central, western and southern India, and is currently trying to expand to eastern India as well.

In its most recent annual report, DFM recorded revenue of INR2.9 billion for the year ended March 2015, up from INR2.7 billion the year before. Over the same period, profit rose from INR71 million to INR110 million.

Westbridge invests from the WestBridge Crossover Fund, a 2011-vintage vehicle, focused on PIPE deals and positioned as an evergreen fund without a specific investment cycle. In 2014 the GP raised a further $325 million for the fund, bringing the total corpus to $850 million.

Other investments from the fund include a $12 million commitment earlier this month to shoe and sandal maker Relaxo Footwears, and a 2015 commitment for about $20 million to tire manufacturer CEAT.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• PIPEs
• Buyouts
• India
• WestBridge Capital Partners