Coca-Cola and the Jubilant Bhartia Group may consider listing Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) in India in the coming years. “There’s certainly been no explicit, if you like, confirmation of the intention to proceed with an IPO, but that’s an obvious possibility, “said sources known to the subject.
In December last year, the Coca-Cola Company had agreed to sell a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings, the parent of HCCB, its largest bottling unit in India, to the Jubilant Bhartia Group, which operates India’s largest food services business, in a transaction valued at about Rs 12,000-12,500 crore. The funding of the transaction was essentially done by the Bhartias with a combination of equity and debt financing, which the company raised itself.
Rothschild & Co. was the advisor for this deal for Coca-Cola.
Akeel Sachak, Partner and Global Head Consumer, Rothschild & Co said, “Our focus was on finding a multi-generational family partner vs private equity because this model of finding a multi-generational family partner with what I call local social license has served the Coca Cola very well because it delivers the kind of long term perspective which has been a key ingredient of the success of the Coca-Cola system globally everywhere.”
He also added that it’s certainly not the long-term intent of the Coca-Cola Company to remain a majority shareholder in the future hinting a further sell of stake in future.
On the increasing interest of family offices in the broader consumer space Subhakanta Bal, MD, Rothschild & Co India said, “You see, you know, that multiple family offices are just for wanting to tap into, you know, the kind of potential that the broader Indian consumer sector offers.” He attributed this to the increased faith in the public markets.
On the growth potential of the consumer sector he said, “If you look at sort of Q3 and Q4 of FY25 it is certainly better than the preceding four quarters mainly due to tax rebates and other incentives by government. If you look at the value growth, it’s probably around 11% for these two quarters. The rural growth in FMCG has been pretty strong compared to the urban growth but we expect the latter growth to pick up especially during the festive season.”
