Bikanervala seeks ally to fund expansion plans

The Delhi-based snack and sweets maker Bikanervala Foods is on the lookout for a foreign partner or private equity investment to fund its expansion plans.

Chetan Lal Aggarwal, director, Bikanervala Foods told Business Standard that the Rs 125 crore company was open for setting up a joint venture with either an international foods company or a domestic company.

The company has lined up a Rs 20 crore investment plan, which includes increasing its manufacturing capacity as well as expanding its restaurant business in India and international markets.

Aggarwal said that the company was also considering to enter new product categories like frozen foods. He declined to comment on the size of the funding the company was looking at, but merchant banking sources say that it would look at investments upwards of Rs 10 crore.

Bikanervala would be expanding its restaurant business internationally, with two outlets slated to open in Vancouver, Canada, and Auckland, New Zealand, by April 2007. It already runs multi-cuisine restaurants in Nepal and West Asia.

In India, the company has 13 restaurants, in Delhi and the National Capital Region but will soon enter new markets like Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. "We will scale up to 24 restaurants in India by 2008," said Aggarwal.

He added that the company was also boosting its production facilities and would be setting up two new units in Greater Noida and Hyderabad.

"We are strong in the North, but are now keen on expanding into other markets. The factory in Hyderabad would help us strengthen our presence in the South," said Aggarwal.

He said that the current expansion is being done through internal accruals and bank borrowings.

But if the required funding came through either a private equity or another investor, the company would plan its expansion in the West and East.

The company, he said has been posting an annual growth of 30 per cent which is expected to go up to 50 per cent once the expansion plans are implemented.

At present, Bikanervala exports its packaged snacks and sweets to Canada, New Zealand, Australia and West Asia.