ITC, Paper Boat mull buyout of juice brand Raw Pressery: Report

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Premium cold-pressed juice maker Raw Pressery is in talks with multiple packaged consumer goods firms, including ITC and the Paper Boat brand, to divest stake or get on board a strategic investor for the juices division, officials said.

According to an Economic Times report, the officials said the sale is being valued anywhere between Rs 150 and Rs 200 crore.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Having raised over Rs 200 crore in equity and debt from the likes of investors like Alteria Capital, Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, and DSG Consumer Partners, the juice maker is now facing headwinds as consumers in key urban markets downtrade and opt for cheaper juices, according to an official cited in the report.

Raw Pressery had planned to diversify its range of offerings which also includes fresh foods, but has been unable to achieve the scale in the newer businesses,  the report said.

“Scale operations and share can be gained if the brand makes it big in the in-home consumption basket. So far, it hasn’t been able to crack that space and has remained a niche premium player,” one of the officials quoted by ET said.

A mailed query to Anuj Rakyan, founder and managing director, Raw Pressery, remained unanswered. ITC did not respond to the paper's query.

For a firm like ITC, a premium juices brand matches its stated objective to build a diversified FMCG portfolio and reducing its dependence on the cigarette business.

ITC crossed Rs 10,000 crore in sales in 2019-20 and is recognized as India's third-largest listed packaged foods company.  B Natural, one of its juice brands operates in the mass-premium segment. It competes with the likes of Dabur’s Real and PepsiCo’s Tropicana.

Another competitor for the buyout could be Hector Beverages, according to the officials, which produces Paper Boat, a range of ethnic fruit-based drinks. According to the Economic Times report, co-founder of Hector Beverages Neeraj Kakkar declined to comment on the matter.