Varun Beverages Ltd has agreed to acquire an additional 20% stake in Lunarmech Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which makes and sells pet bottle caps and crown caps, for Rs 15 crore ($2.1 million at current exchange rates).
The transaction will increase the company’s stake in Lunarmech to 55%, Varun Beverages said in a stock-exchange filing. The deal is likely to be completed by September 15.
Varun Beverages already owns a stake in Lunarmech through Angelica Technologies Pvt. Ltd. It holds a 47.30% stake in Angelica, which owns 74% of Lunarmech.
Lunarmech was incorporated in May 2009 and is headquartered in New Delhi. The company reported revenue of Rs 77.54 crore for the financial year ended March 2019, up from Rs 62.13 crore the year before.
Varun Beverages is one of the largest franchisees in the world (outside the US) of carbonated as well as non-carbonated beverages sold under brands owned by PepsiCo. It produces and distributes beverages such as Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Tropicana Slice and Aquafina packaged drinking water. It also has the franchise for the Ole brand of PepsiCo products in Sri Lanka.
Last month, its board approved a plan to acquire PepsiCo India’s previously franchised territories in Odisha and parts of Madhya Pradesh along with three manufacturing units. Following the completion of that transaction, Varun Beverages will be a franchisee for PepsiCo products across 18 states and two union territories.
The company’s investors include AION Capital, the special situation investment firm jointly run by Apollo Global and ICICI Venture, and Standard Chartered Private Equity. In April, AION scored benchmark returns by exiting its three-and-a-half year investment in Varun Beverages.
