Consumer goods firms see value in fast-growing, high-margin spices biz

Multiple parties from private equity to strategic players see value in the fast-growing, high-margin branded spices business

It is uncharacteristic of ITC — known to favour building brands from scratch — to make a big-ticket acquisition. But last month, the diversified conglomerate sealed its biggest acquisition deal to date, paying Rs 2,150 crore for Kolkata-based Sharma family-owned, Sunrise Foods; additionally, the sellers are entitled to a contingent consideration of an amount not exceeding Rs 150 crore, payable upon Sunrise achieving mutually agreed operational and financial milestones over a period of two years.

Roughly, the deal size is close to four times the turnover of Sunrise which stood at Rs 591.50 crore in 2019-20. Why did it make