Global beverages giant Coca-Cola has initiated talks to acquire a stake in Café Coffee Day as it looks to expand its basket of non-carbonated products, two media reports said.
The talks to buy a “significant” stake are in early stages, according to The Economic Times, which first reported the development, citing executives with knowledge of the matter.
The report, as well as another in Business Standard, also said that the discussions are being driven by Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta, US.
The Economic Times cited a Coca-Cola spokesperson as saying that the news was “speculative”.
Café Coffee Day is India’s largest coffee retail chain and is operated by a unit of Mumbai-listed Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, which is controlled by VG Siddhartha. It competes with the likes of Starbucks, Barista and Costa Coffee, which Coca-Cola bought last year.
The reported development comes after Siddhartha sold his 20.32% stake in software services company Mindtree Ltd to Larsen & Toubro Ltd to repay his debts.
Meanwhile, HDFC Bank is planning to float an initial public offering of its financial services unit, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The IPO of HDB Financial Services may raise about Rs 10,000 crore ($1.4 billion), the report said.
India’s most-valued bank has selected Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley to manage the IPO, the report said, adding that it may hire more bankers later.
In another report, The Economic Times said the Emami group is in talks with private equity investors KKR and Temasek and strategic investors like UltraTech Cement to sell a stake in its cement business.
The Kolkata-based group is seeking a valuation of up to Rs 5,500 crore for the cement business, the report said, citing people aware of the matter.
In May, Emami Cement Ltd had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to float an initial public offering
Earlier in the week, the promoters of the diversified group sold a 10% stake in the flagship Emami Ltd for Rs 1,230 crore. In February, they had offloaded another 10% stake for Rs 1,600 crore.
The moves are part of the group’s efforts to reduce debt. Emami director Mohan Goenka told VCCircle earlier this week the conglomerate planned to monetise non-core assets.
