Alpha Wave Global, IHC seek CCI nod to acquire minority stakes in Haldiram

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Alpha Wave Global, and IHC (International Holding Company) have sought the Competition Commission of India's approval to acquire minority stakes in Haldiram Snacks Food.

Alpha Wave is a global investment company and United Arab Emirates-based IHC is one of the world's largest investment companies having a USD 250 billion market valuation and listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

"The proposed transaction entails the acquisition of less than 10 per cent of the issued and paid-up equity share capital of the target (Haldiram Snacks Food Pvt Ltd)," said a notice filed with the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The proposed combination, classified as an acquisition of shares and voting rights, falls under specific clauses of the Competition Act, it added.

Haldiram Snacks Food is the combined business of the Haldiram family -- Delhi and Nagpur.

In its submission to the CCI, Alpha Wave Ventures II LP and Alpha Wave IHC CI, LP (acquirers) said that the exact delineation of the relevant market may be left open as the proposed transaction does not give rise to any competition law concerns, irrespective of the manner in which the markets are defined.

However, for the assessment of the proposed transaction the relevant markets may be considered either broadly -- as the market for manufacturing and sale of packaged food products in India -- or more narrowly, segmented into specific categories such as snacks, sweets, ready-to-eat meals, and bakery products, the notice said.

Last month, Haldiram Snacks Food, the country's leading snack and food brand, announced that it is selling its stake to two new investors -- IHC and Alpha Wave Global.

The announcement came a day after Haldiram confirmed the acquisition of a minority stake by Singapore-based global investment firm Temasek.

According to industry sources, IHC and Alpha Wave are collectively acquiring a minority stake of about 6 per cent stake in Haldiram Snacks Food at a valuation of USD 10 billion (around Rs 85,000 crore), which is considered to be the largest for the Indian packaged food industry.

Earlier, the National Company Law Tribunal had approved the process of the merger of the two sides and other regulatory approvals are awaited.

Established in 1937 as a retail sweets and namkeen shop in Bikaner, Rajasthan, by Ganga Bhishen Agarwal, Haldiram products are sold in over 80 countries.

In 2022, it was announced that the packaged snacks businesses of Delhi-based Haldiram Snacks and Nagpur-based Haldiram Foods International would be first demerged and then merged into an entity named Haldiram Snacks Food.