Singapore’s state investment company Temasek has declined to confirm it has taken a minority stake in the snacks division of India’s Haldiram’s.
In a race with US-based investment management heavyweight Blackstone, Temasek has reportedly signed a deal for an almost 10% interest in the Haldiram’s subsidiary, according to Reuters’ sources.
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Two unnamed sources cited by the news agency, purportedly with knowledge of the proceedings, put the value of the transaction at around $1bn.
“We decline to comment on market speculation,” a Temasek spokesperson told Just Food today (12 March) as Reuters issued its report.
Calls to the Haldiram’s Group head office in Nagpur, Maharashtra, went unanswered, while the company had not responded to this publication’s emailed request for comment on the matter at the time of writing.
Privately-owned Haldiram’s Group spun off its snacks and food divisions in 2023 to create Haldiram’s Snacks Food, thereby merging Haldiram’s Snacks and Haldiram’s Foods.
The snacks portfolio consists of traditional Indian savoury snacks such as Kaju, Namkeen, Bhujia and Makhana.
Reuters’ sources suggested Temasek is seeking to expand its interest in India’s consumer goods sector and considers Haldiram’s snacks business as a “prized asset”.
Earlier in March, the news publication reported that Blackstone had pulled out from its months-long bid to acquire a minority interest in the Indian company’s snacks unit, again quoting unnamed sources, because of ‘valuation concerns’.
Temasek is Singapore’s state-owned investment company, a separate entity to the city-state’s sovereign wealth fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC).
Temasek also owns Singapore Airport Terminal Services, otherwise known as SATS, which last year entered a new partnership in foodservice with Japan’s Mitsui & Co.
As of 31 March 2024, Temasek had a net portfolio value of S$389bn ($292bn), with a 53% portion comprised of companies headquartered in Singapore, according to its website.
In a report first published in The Economic Times in India, and then posted online by Temasek in January, the investment firm said it planned to invest as much as $10bn in the country in the next three years.
It set up an office in Mumbai in 2004 and now has an “exposure” to the Indian market of around $40bn, the report said.
