Homegrown private equity firm Rabo Equity Advisors Pvt. Ltd has bought a significant stake in Mumbai-based Olive Bar and Kitchen Pvt. Ltd, the restaurant chain said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement comes nearly two months after VCCircle first reported that Rabo planned to invest in Olive Bar.
The statement said that Rabo Equity made the investment through its India Agri Business Fund II and that it acquired the entire stake of Aditya Birla Private Equity and some other investors.
Aditya Birla PE had, in 2012, put in $8 million (Rs 40 crore then) from its Sunrise Fund for a 34% stake in Olive Bar, which runs a chain of premium fine-dining restaurants across India.
The statement didn’t disclose the deal value or the exact size of the stake Rabo bought. The investment is entirely through a secondary purchase of shares as Olive is funding its growth plans via its internal cash flow, it said.
AD Singh, founder of Olive Bar, said in the statement that Centrum’s Chandir Gidwani, an investor in the company for nine years, will stay invested.
For Rabo, this is its first investment in the food services sector in eight years. Rajesh Srivastava, chairman at Rabo Equity, said Olive Bar has a robust back-end infrastructure, good internal controls and rigorous corporate governance practices.
Established in 2000, Olive Bar is known for its flagship fine-dining brand Olive. It also operates boutique restaurants straddling multiple genres, including a high-profile night club and a niche catering business across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Its brand portfolio includes Monkey Bar, LAP, Ai and Soul.
Olive Bar’s consolidated revenue rose to Rs 150.1 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 107.9 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Among the recent deals in the hospitality sector, Singapore-based private equity firm L Catterton Asia picked up a stake in restaurant chain operator Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. Also, Gaja Capital bought a stake in Massive Restaurants, which runs the dining chain Rajdhani Thali and fast-food chain Falafel.