Brands
Tata Consumer Products to acquire Capital Foods
Mumbai: Tata Consumer Products has announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100 per cent equity shares of Capital Foods, owner of the brands ‘Ching’s Secret’ and ‘Smith & Jones’, in a phased manner. 75 per cent of the equity shareholding will be acquired upfront and the balance 25 per cent shareholding will be acquired within the next three years. This move is consistent with Tata Consumer’s strategic intent to expand its product portfolio and its target addressable market in fast-growing/high-margin categories.
Capital Foods has strong umbrella platform brands with a portfolio of unique products for in-home consumption in fast-growing categories. Ching’s Secret is a market leader in desi Chinese across its product categories – chutneys, blended masalas, sauces and soups. Smith & Jones is a fast-growing brand catering to in-home cooking of Italian and other western cuisines. Overall, Capital Foods has first or second positions in five large categories.
This acquisition will enable Tata Consumer Products to expand its product portfolio and further strengthen its pantry platform. There are significant synergy benefits with the existing businesses of Tata Consumer Products in areas spanning distribution, logistics, exports and overheads. The overall size of the categories in which Capital Foods operates in is estimated at Rs 21,400 crores. Structural growth drivers for the category include continued growth in income levels, evolving consumer preferences leading to increased salience of global cuisines in in-home cooking, and increasing need for convenience.
Tata Consumer Products MD & CEO Sunil D’Souza said, “We are excited to welcome Capital Foods into Tata Consumer Products. We believe this is a good strategic and financial fit. It will open up significant market opportunities in the fast-growing non-Indian cuisines segment, leveraging the sales and distribution platform that we have built. The strong brand recall of Ching’s Secret and Smith & Jones coupled with our operational strength across channels makes us extremely confident of driving topline growth and realising cost synergies. This transaction will accelerate momentum in our business and is margin accretive to our business.”
Capital Foods founder Ajay Gupta said, “Today is a historic day for Capital Foods. To be associated with the iconic Tata Group is a dream come true for me. Just the name, ‘Tata’, instils a sense of trust and pride in every Indian. Like Capital Foods, Tata is a home-grown brand that is globally recognised. Tata Consumer Products is a multi
conglomerate that spans the globe with quality food ingredients and products. In 28 years, from 3 bottles of sauces, to an entire ‘Desi Chinese’ cuisine block, Ching’s Secret has become a brand to be reckoned with. Smith & Jones covers another food block with tremendous potential. Together, Tata and Capital Foods can create a multi-national culinary brand that includes multiple food categories. The journey ahead is going to be a giant leap for us, full of endless possibilities and definitely exhilarating!”
Invus, the global advisor of Artal (a European evergreen family investor) MD Francis Cukierman said, “We are thrilled to have worked closely with Ajay Gupta and contributed to the journey of Capital Foods since 2013. Artal Asia, the Singapore subsidiary of Artal Group, has decided to continue for the compelling next chapter of growth of Capital Foods with Tata Consumer for the next few years.”
General Atlantic managing director and head-India Shantanu Rastogi said: “We have had a great partnership with Ajay Gupta in scaling Chings and Smith & Jones into the most adored brands in their categories. We wish Ajay and Tata Consumer Products the best in the next phase of development of Capital Foods.”
Kotak Investment Banking and Khaitan & Co have been TCPL’s exclusive financial and legal advisors on this transaction respectively.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
