Manipal Owner Temasek to Buy a Cut of Haldiram's for a Premium Price

In an interesting move, Investment firm Temasek Holdings which owns majority shares of Manipal Hospitals, plans to enter into FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) sector of the country, as Temasek has agreed to pay $1 billion for near about 10% stakes of Haldiram's which is one of the top FMCG company. The deal translates into valuation of the company of approx. INR 84,000 cr. The deal highlights Temasek's strategic focus on expanding its presence in the Indian consumer market.

Now think like that, you are eating palm oil fried bhujia from Haldiram's and enjoying Netflix. Suddenly you have a severe chest pain and rushed to nearest Manipal Hospitals. You undergo angioplasty and by God's grace you did well - doctors at Manipal did really good job, saving you. In both ways, you are being skimmed and the money goes to Singapore via Temasek. 

Manipal Hospitals, started from a single hospital in Karnataka in 1953, led by Dr. T.M.A Pai (1898-1979), grew to 15 hospitals across 5 states in 2017. In 2017, Temasek, Singaporean state-owned multinational investment firm, took 18% stake in Manipal Hospitals via its wholly owned subsidiary Sheares Healthcare. 

In 2021 Manipal acquired Columbia Asia - rebranding of Columbia Asia started from November 2021. The acquisition was worth Rs 2,100 crore. In 2021 Manipal also acquired Vikram Hospital of Bengaluru for Rs 350 crore. 

In April 2023 Temasek backed Sheares Healthcare picked up another 41% stake in Manipal Health Enterprises (MHEPL) - totalling controlling 59% stake in MHEPL. In this deal, TPG Capital Asia, which first invested in MHEPL through TPG Asia VI in 2015, did fully exit, but it will hold an interest of 11 per cent in the hospital chain through its new Asia fund, the TPG Asia VIII. This also marks exit of Indian sovereign wealth fund National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) from the company, while the Ranjan Pai-led Manipal Group will hold about 30 per cent of MHEPL. Temasek had paid about $2 billion for the additional stake. 

In September 2023, Temasek sold 8-9% of its stake in Manipal Hospitals to Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and Brunei Investment Authority. Temasek will continue to hold a 51% stake in the hospital chain.

In September 2023, Manipal acquired 84% of Emami Group backed AMRI Hospitals. In April 2024 Manipal acquired 87% of Kolkata-based hospital chain Medica Synergie. With acquisition of AMRI, Manipal has turned to be top private hospital chain in eastern India beating Narayana Health and Apollo Hospitals. 

Coming back to Haldiram's

Bhujia — a snack made with chickpea flour or besan, is a very common snacks in the city of Bikaner, Rajasthan. Ganga Bishan Agarwal (popularly known as Haldiram) at his young age tried his luck with bhujia made of moth flour at his father's small shop at Bikaner in 1919. That's the beginning of Haldiram's. However the brand Haldiram was established in 1937. 

Ganga Bishen had three sons - Moolchand, Satyanarayan and Rameshwarlal. With his two younger sons and Moolchand's son Shiv Kishan, Ganga Bishen came to Kolkata during 1950s and established "Haldiram Bhujiawala" brand here. After creating a strong growth in Kolkata, Haldiram returned to Bikaner in 1960s. Satyanarayan later split from the family business and founded 'Haldiram & Sons' but this brand did not replicate his father's success. Rameshwarlal also split from Bikaner business. 

So by this time the Bhuja business was running over three companies - 'Haldiram' in Bikaner and 'Haldiram Bhujiawala' & 'Haldiram & Sons' in Kolkata. 

In 1980s Shiv Kishan and his sister Saraswati expanded Haldiram brand to Nagpur, Maharastra. 

Moolchand's younger sons - Manoharlal and Madhusudan took the brand to India's capital New Delhi in 1984. Thus Haldiram got a national and eventually international identity. 

Now the Agarwal's Haldiram is divided into 4 units. 

✺ Delhi - Run by Moolchand's younger sons Manoharlal & Madhusudan Agarwal (Haldiram Snacks). This unit has generated largest revenue among all other units. This unit was started in 1982. In 1993 they started export to America and in 2016 the company founded first overseas factory in UK. 

The website: https://www.haldiram.com

Instagram: @haldirams_snacks

✺ Nagpur - Run by Moolchand's elder son Shiv Kishan Agarwal.

The Nagpur unit was started in 1970s. The Nagpur's unit generates second big revenue and quite close to Delhi unit. This unit runs as Haldiram Foods - and had several restaurants under its hood in central, west and south India. 

Website: https://www.haldirams.com/

Instagram: @haldirams_nagpur

✺ Bikaner - Run by Moolchand's second son Shiv Ratan Agarwal - this unit was the smallest one, as a result Shiv Ratan parted away from with Haldiram's business and established co-partnered business under Shivdeep Food Products, and in 1993 launched the brand Bikaji - a very simple yet powerful name, derived from Bika Rao (founder of Bikaner) and Ji, used as a mark of respect in India. Web: https://www.bikaji.com/

From 1994 the company started foreign exports. With new branding Bikaji was able to expand all over the country. In 2006 all group companies - Bikaji Foods Pvt Ltd, Shivdeep Food Products Pvt Ltd, Bikaji Marketing Ltd, and Dipu's Foods Pvt Ltd were merged into single entity - Bikaji. In 2019 they did a masterstroke, roped Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador with the tagline ‘Amitji loves Bikaji’. In November 2022, Bikaji opened for IPO. With time, it has diversified its product portfolio to include namkeen, papad, western snacks, and packaged sweets. 

✺ Kolkata - Presently the unit has been divided between Rameshwarlal's sons Prabhu Agarwal, Mahesh Agarwal and Manish Agarwal (his another son Ravi died early). Rameshwarlal came in Kolkata during 1950s, and later his son aka Haldiram/Ganga Bishen's grandson - Prabhu Agarwal founded his own identity - Haldiram’s Prabhuji in 1958. 

However during early 1990s the brothers and their cousin Prabhu, known as Prabhuji, engaged in a bitter legal battle over the rights to do business as "Haldiram Bhujiawala". Later court ruled that Prabhuji can't use this Haldiram brand in Delhi. Therefore the Kolkata unit retails under the brand - Prabhuji. They bought internet-first brand - Prabhuji Online. Now Prabhuji and Manish Agarwal runs the brand - Prabhuji Pure Foods - https://www.prabhujipurefood.com.

The brand ambassadors are Bollywood legendary actors, Shahrukh Khan (since 2022) and Rashmika Mandanna (since 2023). In November 2024, Kolkata unit raised INR 235 cr through a private placement from Pantomath’s Bharat Value Fund (BVF) for a minority stake (approx 10%). 

Mahesh Agarwal owns Pratik Foods and runs 4 outlets in Ballygaunge, Camac Street, Russel Street, Chowringee Road of Kolkata under 'I Love Haldiram' brand (https://ilovehaldiram.com). 

Investors lined up to invest in Haldiram's

Since 2016-17, several private equity firms including -- General Atlantic, Bain Capital, Capital International, TA Associates, Warburg Pincus, Everstone and packaged foods players PepsiCo and previously Kellogg had lined up to invest in Haldiram. In December 2024, Blackstone along with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC Singapore, Temasek-Bain Capital and Alpha Wave submitted binding offers for a 10-15% stake in the company. Finally Temasek wins the race. 

Temasek had initial talks to invest in Nagpur's unit, which will be merged with Delhi unit soon - the combined entity will be Haldiram Foods and Snacks. Temasek's investment will be put on the merged entity which has been valued at INR 84,000 cr, while the merged entity reported revenue of Rs 12,800 crore in FY24. This also sets the background for an initial public offering (IPO) planned by the new entity.

Other close companies to Haldirams

Bikanervala's history traces back to 1905 when Shri Lal Chand Agarwal started a small sweet shop, Bikaner Namkeen Bhandar in Bikaner's old city area of Kote Gate. In 1950s Bikaner Namkeen Bhander was expanded to Delhi, started with a small shop at the Paranthe Wali Gali of Delhi's Chandni Chowk area. In Delhi their Moong Dal Halwa, Bikaneri Bhujia and Kaju Katli became very famous and people started calling them - Bikanervala (https://bikanervala.com). 

In 1988 Mr Shyam Sundar Aggarwal, MD, launched Bikano (https://www.bikano.com) in 1988 to sell the products in air-tight packaging. In 2003, he came up with quick-service restaurants with the name of Bikano Chat Cafes, to serve fast food with minimal table service.

Bhikharam Chandmal (https://bhikharamchandmal.in/) 

They claim that bhujia is their innovation, as late Tansukhdas Agarwal once fried Bari (local home made dry vegetables mixed with moth dal flour) and named it Bhujia (means fried product). That's nearly 125 years back. Later his son Bhikharam and grandson Chandamal kickstarted the business. They got patronage from the Maharaja of Bikaner and were also awarded suitably. Bhujia gained popularity, as it was included in the list of favorite snack foods in the Darbar of Bikaner. Later the company introduced several namkeen products. During 1990s Navratan Agarwal and Hari Ram Agrawal of Bhikharam Chandmal Bhujiawala, Bikaner established their first high-tech systematic manufacturing unit - Sunshine Food Products, to produce quality Bhujias and Namkeens. 

Balaji Wafers - started by Virani brothers in 1974 from Rajkot, Gujarat. (https://www.balajiwafers.com)