INVC NEWS
Chandigarh,
Marking a significant development in the agro food processing sector in India and boosting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) interest into the State of West Bengal, Rs.800 Cr Keventer Agro Ltd(KAL), the flagship enterprise of Rs.1800 Cr Keventer Group Having diverse interests in Food and Beverage, Hospitality, Realty, Infrastructure and Exports, has secured a capital of USD 25mn (Rs.170Cr. approximately) from Mandala Capital, a private equity firm, which has primary investment interests in the Food and Agri-business sectors in India. The capital raised will help Keventer Agro fuel its growth story further and will be utilised for future expansion plans. Baker Tilly DHC, the Indian arm of one of the world’s leading accountancy and business advisory services company,Baker Tilly International, has been the transaction adviser of this deal while Fox Mandal and DSK Legal were the legal advisors to Keventer Agro Ltd and Mandala Capital respectively.
Keventer Agro is currently on an aggressive growth path eyeing significant surge in its business scale. The Company has revamped its business strategyand to this effect, the governing board of the Company has rearranged the key functions of its top management. With effect from September 13, 2017, Mr. Mayank Jalan has been designated as Chairman and Managing Director of Keventer Agro Ltd and he would also play a pivotal role in taking ahead the growth agenda of Metro Dairy as its Chairman. Mr. Mahendra Kumar Jalan, the Founder of Keventer Agro Ltd would continue to guide the management and provide strategic inputs as the Chairman Emeritus of KAL.
Mr. Mayank Jalan, Chairman andManaging Director, Keventer Agro Ltd and Chairman, Metro Dairy Ltd commented, “We have charted out a robust growth plan for each of our businesses, be it dairy, banana or frozen foods. Thus we were looking foran experienced investment partner who would be a part of our journey goingforward and what could be better than Mandala Capital with their proven track record of successful partnershipswith some of the finest organisations operating in Indian agro business sector. With this fresh infusion of capital,
we intend to invest about USD 100mn into our dairy business in Bengal andgrow our food processing business exponentially – all towards our endeavorof turning into a USD 500mn company by the year 2022.”
Mandala Capital currently holds a portfolio which includes organisations across the spectrum of food related businesses such as Seeds, Biotechnology, Sugar, Biochemical, Irrigation, Food Processing, Solar, Agro-financing, Logistics and Cold Chain, Dairy, Beverages and Fresh produce. Mr. Uday Garg,Managing Partner, Mandala Capital stated, “We believe there is significant potential in the food processing sector and KeventerAgro has all the right ingredients to become the leading player in Eastern India. We look forward to working with Mr. Jalan and his team to achieve this.”
