Sapphire Foods Receives Investment Round Led by Creador, NewQuest Capital Partners and TR Capital; New Growth Capital to Fund Strategic Store Expansions. Sapphire Foods Mauritius Limited (Sapphire Mauritius), an entity promoted by Samara Capital Management Limited (Samara Capital), has concluded a strategic round of investment into its flagship restaurant and food services company, Sapphire Foods India Limited (Sapphire Foods) by a consortium of private equity funds led by Creador, NewQuest Capital Partners and TR Capital. In addition, Sapphire Foods has also raised a direct round of growth capital from Creador. The new investors have invested over INR 1150 crores in a mix of primary and secondary round.
Avendus Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to Sapphire Foods and UBS Investment Bank acted as exclusive placement agent and financial advisor to Samara Capital Management Limited, the Investment Manager of Sapphire Mauritius, in this investment round.
Sapphire Foods has attracted marquee investors such as Samara Capital Group, Goldman Sachs, CX Partners and Edelweiss. Sapphire Foods is an omnichannel restaurant operator and the largest franchisee of YUM! Brands in the Indian sub-continent in terms of revenue in the financial year 2020 operating 437 restaurants of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, as on March 31, 2021.
Sapphire Foods is led by Sanjay Purohit, Group CEO, and a professional management team, with robust corporate governance practices, and clearly defined company values that help guide organisation behaviour and culture.
“We believe that the business has a strong foundation and is on an inflection point for growth. We value our relationship with Yum! Brands for their continued innovation and support. We are excited to partner with Creador, TR Capital and NewQuest Capital and look forward to a fruitful relationship. Their support in various initiatives would benefit the business in accelerating our growth plans. This investment round is to fund our new store expansion and providing partial exit for a few investors.” said Sumeet Narang, Founder and Managing Director at Samara India Advisors Private Limited.
“The QSR chain segment, largely represented by global brands, is the fastest growing segment within the organized food services market in India. 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. Sapphire Foods is a great fit for Creador and we look forward to assisting the management team in their next phase of growth” said Kabir Thakur, Managing Director and Co-Head India, Creador.
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