Wealthy businessmen and private equity biggies have queued up to buy Moshe’s, one of Mumbai’s well-known bistros built over the past decade. Anjan Chatterjee of Mainland China, New Silk Route and Bangalore-based hotelier Prakash Shetty are in the reckoning to acquire majority ownership from the 43-year-old Jewish owner, Moshe Shek, who runs a chain of around ten cafes and restaurants.
Shek, who earlier worked in the kitchens of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai and Tel Aviv Hilton, is considering final bids after appointing Lodha Capital Markets to find a buyer. Prakash Shetty is learned to be the frontrunner for Moshe’s. The founder will retain a small stake and continue to manage the business, said people familiar with the development. Moshe’s is the latest in a series of investment deals in the food and beverage (F&B) industry which are attracting a new breed of entrepreneurs and investors.
A quintessential SoBo chain, Moshe’s started with Mediterranean cuisine in the millionaire boulevard of Cuffe Parade. It set off on an expansion spree in the recent past, taking its footprint to the metrop’s other upscale locations. Sources said the bidding for Moshe’s has been a hotly contested affair with a slew of other investors, including Dabur family scion Mohit Burman and Everstone Capital, co-founded by two former Goldman Sachs bankers, evincing an interest. Moshe Shek was unavailable for comment.
Global investors have poured big bucks into India’s heavily fragmented restaurant business to ride the buoyant domestic consumption story. Everstone acquired Blue Foods that manages restaurant brands like Bombay Blue, Copper Chimney and Noodle Bar, while Burman’s LiteBite’s took over Punjab Grill of Jiggs Kalra.
More recently, India Equity Partners purchased a controlling interest in New Delhi’s south Indian chain Sagar Ratna and New Silk Route took a big bite off Bangalore’s Adiga’s restaurant network. Private equity arms of Aditya Birla and tech czar Azim Premji too have cut deals in the F&B industry in recent months.
The trend points to institutionalization of the F&B business, especially the niche high-margin chains, like Moshe’s that boasts of profit margins topping 30%.
Source: Economic Times