Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt Ltd, the Mumbai-headquartered company which runs a chain of fine-dining restaurants, has raised Rs 48 crore or $10.5 million from strategic investor Mirah Hospitality and Food Solutions Pvt Ltd and the existing financial investor Beacon India Private Equity.
Mirah Hospitality has made an investment of Rs 40 crore ($8.75million) while Beacon India has hiked its stake by investing Rs 8 crore.
Founded in 2001, by Riyaz Amlani, Impresario operates 27 restaurants across eight cities under various brands such as Smokehouse Grill, Cafe Mocha and Salt Water Cafe. The company also provides dessert and coffee solutions to the corporate segment.
In the current deal, Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality was advised by legal firm Trilegal and Mirah Group by Desai & Diwanji.
An email sent to Gaurav Goenka of Mira Group did not elicit any response till the time of publication of the article. When contacted, Riyaz Amlani, Managing Director, Impresario Hospitality, said the "deal is yet to be concluded". Deepak Shahdadpuri, Managing Director, Beacon India Private Equity, did not offer a comment.
The Rs 300 crore Mirah Group, which is a diversified business house with interests in real estate development, hospitality, travel, wind energy, computer education, textiles, corporate gifts and international trading, has been acquiring stakes in the restaurant space.
Last year, it acquired Encore Hotels, which owns Rajasthani food chain Khandani Rajdhani, and also acquired a 33 per cent stake in Pragati Ventures which runs a donuts chain called Mad Over Donuts. It had also acquired a Lebanese food chain Falafel. The group also runs other businesses like Citrus Hotels and Cafe Bar.
According to VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle, the Indian restaurant space has seen 26 private equity deals worth $355 million over the last five years. The most recent one was the $40 million investment by India Equity Partners in Delhi-based Sagar Ratna Restaurants Pvt Ltd.
ICICI Venture recently invested about $55 million in Devyani International, which runs the franchises of Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee in India. TVS Shriram Growth Fund also invested in Om Pizzas & Eats Pvt Ltd and celebrity chef Sajeev Kapoor's Indiancookery.com Pvt Ltd.