Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, May 18, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, May 18, 2002 |
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Corporate
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Mergers & Acquisitions Indian ally to pick Allied Domecq stake in jt venture Our Bureau
KOLKATA, May 17 THE Ghai group, the Indian promoter of Maharashtra Dairy Products Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd, producers of Baskin Robbins ice-cream, will buy out its UK-based partner's stake in the company. The UK-based partner - the Allied Domecq group - holds 40 per cent stake in the company and the rest is held by the Indian partner. Mr Pankaj Chaturvedi, CEO of the company, said that the buy-out will be over the end of 2002. "This is an overall corporate strategy of Baskin Robbins. They are moving out of all their joint ventures through out the world. Modalities of the deal are currently being worked out,'' Mr Chaturvedi said. Incidentally, the Ghai group was a partial owner of the Kwality brand of ice-cream, but few years back, they sold it out to Hindustan Lever, a multinational company. Now, they are buying out the stake of a multinational company. Baskin Robbins entered India about eight years back. The company expanded its reach at fast pace and opened about 175 outlets all over the country. Mr Chaturvedi felt that this was a wrong policy. "We have already reduced our outlet network to 125 and I still feel that another 25 might have to be refurbished or relocated. Thereafter, my target is to expand the network again to 150 outlets by the end of this year,'' he said. For institutional sales, the company has entered into agreements with Barista Coffee and Air Sahara. It is also holding talks with hotel chains such as the Oberois and Taj. Baskin Robbins has also rationalised its price structure. For the year ended March 31, 2002, the company hopes to register a turnover of Rs 17 crore and expects to double it to Rs 34 crore during 2002-03.
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