India: CX Partners, Gateway buy 47% in Cremica for $67.5m

By Bhawna Gupta

December 11, 2015

Private equity firm CX Partners and Gateway Partners have taken close to 47 per cent stake in the food company Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities Ltd which runds its business under the rand ‘Cremica’. 

A group of investors led by these two companies have invested around Rs 450 crore ($67.5 million) in cookies, biscuits and breads maker Cremica. The deal was closed last week.

Motilal PE, which acquired 22 per cent stake in Mrs  Bectors Food for Rs 48 crore in 2010, completely exited the company through the deal. It pocketed around Rs 210 crore, making a return of over 4X, as per DEALSTREETASIA‘s estimate.

Ajay Bector group too has also sold its entire stake in Cremica.

Talking to DEALSTREETASIA about the investment, Tarun Khanna, partner, CX Partners, said, “we believe the business has given strong operating background and market reputation, which is poised to grow quite rapidly in breads and the biscuit segments. That is the reason we invested in the company.”

Mrs. Bectors, a leading biscuits & bakery products maker, has a diversified business portfolio spanning consumer, institutional and export segments. The company has a network of over 1,500 distributors.

o3 Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities, Motilal Oswal Private Equity and the promoters, for this deal.

CX Partners, founded in 2008, manages funds with a corpus of over $500 million. The PE firm provides growth or buyout equity to mid-market companies in India across sectors like consumer, IT and ITES, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, business services and financial services.

As exclusively reported by DEALSTREETASIA, Ajay Relan, the founder and managing partner of CX Partners, is stepping down from day to day management of the firm.

Also Read: 

India: FMCG major HUL sells bread, bakery business to Everstone-backed Nimman Foods

India: Interest in private equity slim in manufacturing sector

Exclusive: Edible oil company KS Oils in advance talks to raise PE funding

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
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Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW