From Bikaner to Blackstone: The success story of humble Haldiram's

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In what could turn out to be the largest private-equity deal in India, the worlds largest private equity fund is eyeing an Indian business which started out as a small retail shop..

The 87-year-old Haldiram, Indias largest snack and convenience foods company, rode to success by pampering the taste buds of Indians with traditional bikaneri bhujia made readily available everywhere in plastic packs which helped it spawn a pan-India business and branch out into more savouries and other food items...

A consortium led by private equity fund Blackstone, along with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and GIC of Singapore, submitted a non-binding bid late last week to acquire a controlling stake in Haldiram Snacks Food Pvt Ltd (HSFPL), the combined packaged snacks and foods business of the Delhi and Nagpur factions of the Agarwal family, ET has reported based on information from sources...

The company came to be divided between three distinct areas of operations with Delhi-based Haldiram Snacks and Ethnic Foods in the northern region, Nagpur-based Haldiram Foods International in western and southern regions and a much smaller Kolkata-based Haldiram Bhujiawala in the eastern region..

The snack food business is engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of 500 types of products such as snacks, namkeen, sweets, ready to eat and pre-mixed food, cookies, non-carbonated ready-to-drink beverages and pasta..