Everstone to sell stake in India's Burger King operator Restaurant Brands Asia

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Jan 19: Private equity firm Everstone will sell its entire 11.26% stake in Burger King’s India and Indonesia franchisee Restaurant Brands Asia, as part of a deal to be announced on Tuesday, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Everstone Capital’s stake, through its investment vehicle QSR Asia Pte Ltd, is valued at $57 million currently, according to Refinitiv data. Restaurant Brands Asia has a market capitalisation of $437 million in Mumbai.
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Under the deal, Restaurant Brands Asia will get a new strategic investor, said the two sources, who declined to be named as the matter is confidential.

Everstone and Restaurant Brands Asia did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The family office of the founders of India’s Ajanta Pharma, which also runs other restaurant businesses, is set to be the strategic investor in the deal, and could inject up to 8 billion Indian rupees ($88 million) in the company, according to one of the sources.

Representatives of the family office did not respond to a request for comment.

It was not immediately clear what stake Ajanta would take in the company, but the source added it was considering taking up a majority stake in due course as other shareholders sell out.

Restaurant Brands Asia told Indian stock exchanges last week that it planned to hold a board meeting on Tuesday to “consider and evaluate raising of funds”. It did not elaborate.