Home grown private equity fund Everstone Capital has sold its iconic bread brand Modern Foods to Mexico’s largest food and bakery company, Grupo Bimbo, according to a report by the Economic Times.
Everstone’s bread and bakery platform Everfoods Asia, predominantly consists of Modern Bread brand that Everstone had acquired from Hindustan Unilever in 2016.
It also includes other brands such as Cookie Man. As per ET, in September, a potential deal was brewing between Everstone and Grupo Bimbo.
Grupo Bimbo is the largest baking company in the world, operating in 33 countries, including India, and has a diversified portfolio of over 13,000 products and more than 100 renowned brands.
Its popular brands include Entenmann’s, Bimbo, Tia Rosa, Marinela, Barcel, Sara Lee, Oroweat and Arnold Bread. At present, Grupo Bimbo sells bakery brand Harvest Gold in India, which was acquired in 2017 as part of its India entry.
Modern Foods, which was established in 1965 by the Government of India, was the first branded bread in the country. Global private equity player Everstone acquired Modern Food – which had exited several markets, including Delhi – from FMCG major Hindustan Unilever in 2015. It competes with other bakery brands such as Britannia, Harvest Gold, Nature’s Own and English Oven.
In 2019, Modern Foods had overhauled its portfolio. The new portfolio featured smarter choices for consumers seeking more nutritious options including Milk Plus bread enriched with calcium; Hi-Fibre Brown bread reinforced with premium wheat fibre; 100 percent whole-wheat bread; and other new innovations such as Multigrain Superseed Bread which has superseed sprinkles on top and flour made of seven grains, along with being rich in Omega 3.
With a revenue of Rs.400 crore, Modern bread holds about 35-40% market share in Indian bread market.
