Trilegal advises Verlinvest to acquire 20 stake in Everstone-owned Cusine Asia

Verlinvest SA, a Belgium based investment company of the founding families of beer conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev, has acquired 20 percent stake in Cuisine Asia, a Mauritius-based holding company of Everstone’s restaurant business, which includes Blue Foods. 

The Mumbai office of Trilegal advised Verlinvest with a team led by Partner Amit Tambe along with Senior Associate Kunal Chandra and Associates Devashree Shah and Arjun Sharma.

Everstone was advised by its in-house team led by Partner and General Counsel P.M. Devaiah.

Speaking to Bar & Bench, Partner Amit Tambe said, “It is a very interesting deal in the food space. Verlinvest has been looking at India and they had earlier acquired a stake in wine maker Nashik Vintners, known for its Sula brand. This is the second company in which they have invested. They are strategic kind of investors and work very closely with their investee companies”.

According to Dealcurry, Everstone had invested $20 million in JS Hospitality for a 45 percent stake in December last year. This investment was made through Cuisine Asia. JS Hospitality owns Park Balluchi and Pind Balluchi brands in NCR.

Everstone also owns about 80 percent stake in Blue Foods, which is India's largest restaurant operator (running restaurants like Noodle Bar, Bombay Blue and Copper Chimney), through it's investment vehicle Cuisine Asia. Blue Foods was set up in 2003 by Sunil Kapoor of Copper Chimney fame and Sanjeev Chona of Cream Centre fame. 

Verlinvest has investments in Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser and Bud Light beer, and French liquor maker Remy Cointreau. Verlinvest had earlier invested in water brand Glacéau, a stake it sold to Coca-Cola Inc. in 2007.