Standard Chartered’s private equity arm has invested Rs. 250 crore ($56 million) in Ravi Jaipuria-owned Varun Beverages for a minority stake..Luthra & Luthra advised Varun Beverages with a team led by Managing Associate Nivedita Tiwari along with Associate Neha Priya. Partner Sundeep Dudeja also advised the team on this transaction..Wadia Ghandy advised Standard Chartered PE arm with a team led by Partner Ankit Majmudar along with Associate Manjiri Inamdar..Varun Beverages bottles, distributes and markets soft drink beverages under International brands owned by the US-based PepsiCo Inc., such as Pepsi, 7UP, Miranda and Mountain Dew in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Morocco..The funding will help Varun Beverages expand its bottling businesses in India and overseas markets of Morocco, Nepal and Sri Lanka..RJ Corp has business interests in areas like beverages, fast food restaurants, ice cream & dairy products, breweries, education, healthcare and hospitality. Recently, PE arm of ICICI Bank, ICICI Venture had acquired a minority stake in RJ Corp’s Devyani International, which runs KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee chains in India, for approximately Rs. 150 crore ($ 33 million)..According to VCCircle, Standard Chartered PE has invested over $2 billion in mid-to-late-stage companies in need of expansion capital or acquisition finance and also in management buy-outs..Standard Chartered PE has recently invested in GMR Infrastructure’s airport arm, GMR Airports Holding.
