Apax Partners is acquiring a significant minority stake in iD Fresh Food. The deal values the Indian ready-to-cook food brand at approximately ₹4,500 crore. Mumbai: London-based private equity advisory firm Apax Partners will acquire a significant minority stake in iD Fresh Food, the Bengaluru-based company announced on Monday.
Apax Partners will acquire the stake from existing shareholders Premji Invest and TPG NewQuest, both of which will remain investors alongside the company’s co-founder PC Musthafa and his cousins, it said.
Though the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, people with knowledge of the matter said that Apax Partners will acquire about 25 per cent stake in ID Fresh Food, India’s leading ready-to-cook fresh foods brand, at a valuation of ₹4,500 crore.
ET reported last week that Apax Partners was set to acquire a quarter stake in iD Fresh Food for close to ₹1,300 crore. The deal, finalised at a valuation of nearly ₹4,500 crore, would be one of the first pure-play consumer investments for Apax Partners, the report said.
Founded in 2005, iD Fresh Food makes fresh, preservative-free, traditionally prepared Indian food available at scale. From supplying idli and dosa batter to local retailers, it has expanded to more than 50 cities across India and the Gulf and employs nearly 2,400 people. It also supplies Indian flatbreads, accompaniments such as chutneys and sambar, and value-added dairy products.
“The Apax Funds’ investment will allow us to accelerate growth, build capacity, broaden our product range, and scale into more cities and markets,” said PC Musthafa, co-founder and CEO of iD Fresh Food.
Harjot Dhaliwal, partner and head of India at Apax Partners, said, “We will work closely with the management team and leverage our consumer packaged goods expertise to accelerate growth, including expanding distribution into new cities and channels, strengthening the brand through marketing and category-building, driving innovation in adjacent product categories, and using technology and analytics to optimise the company’s fresh, daily-delivered supply chain.”
Rohan Haldea, partner at Apax Partners, said, “iD Fresh sits at the intersection of several powerful, long-term trends in India – rising incomes, rapid urbanisation, and consumers’ desire for convenient yet fresh, clean-label food at home. With Apax’s investment, we are excited to partner with iD Fresh to support its next phase of growth in India and internationally.”
Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of nearly $80 billion. It has invested about $3.6 billion across 13 transactions in India since 2007 and has realised $5.2 billion through eight full exits and one partial realisation. Its India portfolio includes greytHR, Azentio Software, Infogain, GlobalLogic, Zensar, IBS Software, Fractal Analytics, Healthium and Apollo Hospitals.
For 2024-25, iD Fresh Food reported revenue of ₹688.22 crore, up 22.27 per cent year-on-year, according to its filings sourced from the Registrar of Companies.
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