PE firm Convergent Finance leads $22 mn funding in Hindustan Foods

Hindustan Foods makes a range of food and non-food products in the cosmetics, personal care and home care space for top FMCG customers

Newly-formed private equity firm Convergent Finance is leading a $22 million (Rs 154 crore) funding round in Hindustan Foods Limited, a leading contract manufacturer for the FMCG industry. This could see it pick a a significant minority stake of between 20 per cent and 26 per cent (on a fully-converted basis), the investor said in a statement. 

Hindustan Foods manufactures a range of food and non-food products in the cosmetics, personal care and home care space. With factories across six locations, the company offers reliable, pan-India contract manufacturing services to top FMCG customers who are looking to minimise cost while maximising product quality in the post-GST environment.

The firm, founded in 1988, went public in 1989 and has been under the current management since 2013. Convergent has been founded by Harsha Raghavan, former head of Fairfax India, the Indian arm of Prem Watsa-led Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Sameer Kothari, MD of Hindustan Foods, said “The Convergent team has deep expertise in adding value through M&A and notably bolt-on acquisitions, which is the need of the hour in the contract manufacturing sector. We will also benefit greatly by their global network of relationships, strategic insights and operational expertise. We will use the proceeds to expand capacities.”

Sarvjit Singh Bedi, Partner of Convergent commented, “We have been very impressed with the company’s performance under Sameer’s leadership. Hindustan Foods is very well placed to continue leveraging India’s consumption story.''

“This is our first investment after founding Convergent and we are delighted to partner with Hindustan Foods. We have a track record of working with great companies to help transform them into global leaders. We view Hindustan Foods as an excellent platform and look forward to working with them to expand their business both organically and inorganically,”said Harsha Raghavan, Managing Partner of Convergent.

Hindustan Foods was established in 1988, with the objective of manufacturing nutritional food products. In 2013, the current promoters bought a controlling stake in Hindustan Foods and since then the company has diversified across various FMCG categories with manufacturing competencies in food and non-food, extending to cosmetics, personal care and home care products. It intends to continue leveraging the India’s consumption story through organic and inorganic expansion.

Convergent Finance LLP is an investment partnership at the forefront of bringing together Ideas, Capital and passionate Entrepreneurs. The Convergent investment process involves identifying proprietary platform and bolt-on opportunities, speed of execution and a relentless focus on performance improvement. The Convergent value investing approach believes in paying fair and reasonable valuations through bilaterally negotiated transactions.