Latest news with #B9Beverages
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Tilaknagar Industries, Bira maker named in Andhra Pradesh liquor scam
Synopsis Tilaknagar Industries and Bira maker B9 Beverages have been named in a chargesheet by Andhra Pradesh Police for alleged kickbacks and irregularities in liquor trade. Tilaknagar reportedly earned ₹1,472 crore from APSBCL, with ₹218 crore allegedly routed as kickbacks via gold transactions. B9 Beverages earned ₹360 crore, with ₹43 crore allegedly funneled back through fake vendor payments. Both firms deny receiving official communication so far.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bira 91 re-enters Uttar Pradesh through new manufacturing partnership
B9 Beverages' Bira 91 has re-entered Uttar Pradesh in India after securing a new manufacturing and distribution partnership, and has revealed plans to develop a local brewery in the state. According to a statement from Bira 91, its products are now being manufactured through a partnership with an unnamed "in-state brewery". The group said it had also committed over 200 crore ($2 billion) towards establishing its own brewery in Uttar Pradesh. The group expects the facility to be operational from 2026, and that the space "will further enable local production, reduce lead times and improve profitability in the state". According to Bira 91, the market in Uttar Pradesh has grown from making up 3.5% of its national beer sales in 2018 to an estimated 12-13% in 2025. As part of the roll-out, the beer brand will be re-introducing Bira 91 Boom, Rise, White, and Gold to consumers in major cities across the state. The move, the group said, is key to the company's ambition to 'dominate India's premium beer segment'. Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of parent company B9 Beverages said: 'We are in the midst of a remarkable turnaround. 'The past few years were tough, but we've rebuilt a company that's ready to scale. Our renewed focus on Uttar Pradesh – a key market – is central to this, and we aim to achieve double-digit market share there in the next 24 months.' He added: 'Despite being just 10 years old and facing disruptions like COVID-19, Bira 91 has grown at a 65% CAGR over the last decade to become a true 'Imagined in India' challenger to global brands. 'This success comes from building a fresh brand with flavourful products – and our UP brewery will bring this vision to life in India's most populous and rapidly transforming state.' "Bira 91 re-enters Uttar Pradesh through new manufacturing partnership" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Time of India
03-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bira beer maker restructures leadership amid liquidity woes and revenue decline
B9 Beverages , the makers of Bira beer , has hired senior leaders and made changes to its top deck at a time when the company is facing liquidity woes and repayment issues to retail investors from KredX, a fintech marketplace. The company appointed Vikram Qanungo, who returns to Bira 91 after 2018, as its chief financial officer again. He was Bira 91's CFO in 2015-2019, replacing Meghna Agrawal, who held the position from 2019-2024. Bira 91 also appointed Dr. Manoj Mishra, ex head of supply chain at Ball Corporation (India and SEA), as the vice president, manufacturing. The company has promoted Nayanabhiram Deekonda, a nine year veteran in the company, as SVP – sales, heading India sales, a designation that was vacant since Deepak Malhotra, who left in 2023 to join Inbrew as chief business officer - beer. Deekonda was SVP - chief of people, product and growth from October 2024. B9 Beverages also promoted Deepak Sinha, ex VP international business, as SVP – brand & innovation. Sudhir Jain, SVP & chief of integrated supply chain will also handle additional responsibilities of heading people function at the company. And finally Vandana Sahni, ex-head of financial planning and analysis at Bira 91 is also promoted to chief of staff and head, strategy. The company confirmed these appointments and management changes to ET. According to regulatory filings, Bira91 posted revenues' decline of 22% in FY24 to Rs638 crore, and its losses widened by 40.58% to reach Rs749 crore. ET reported in May that the company was behind on paying its retail investors as well, in the company KredX, to which Jain back then said, "There are liquidity issues that the company is facing… but the management has told lenders that it is in the process of raising funds that will help it manage debt repayment" Back in June last year, ET had also reported on the company having supply issues, with almost no supply in most of its key markets for months at a stretch. The valuation of the company has been flat from October 2021 till April 2024 at $523 million, as per Tracxn. The company is also in advanced talks with BlackRock, which is planning to invest Rs500 crore in the promoter group of Bira91.
Mint
26-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Bira beer maker raises ₹85 cr in rights issue, cuts workforce to rein in costs
New Delhi/Mumbai: B9 Beverages has already raised ₹85 crore by selling fresh shares to existing investors at a massive discount, as the maker of Bira beer shrinks its workforce and restructures its operations to focus on fewer markets to cut costs, people close to the development said. The company, founded by Ankur Jain in 2015, is raising a total ₹100 crore in a rights issue for working capital requirements, and the remainder ₹15 crore is expected to be raised by the middle of July, the people cited earlier said on the condition of anonymity. These shares are being sold at ₹325 apiece, a substantial discount of 55% from a previous round when Japanese beer maker Kirin came in at over ₹700 per share. B9 currently has about 6,500 private investors, and a large family office is also likely to now come in as a first-time investor. The people cited earlier also said B9 has now reworked its arrangements with four breweries, which will no longer manufacture exclusively for them. This is being done to control costs. Read more: India's liquor stocks are on a high—what's fuelling the rally, and what could derail it It is also in the midst of raising an ₹800 crore round through which some of its early backers may look to cash out. A rights issue is a mechanism to raise funds, in which a company offers its existing shareholders the chance to buy more shares typically at a discounted price, in proportion to their holdings. Workforce shrink "A huge amount of shares have come up for sale in the last two years largely because of an exodus of employees in the last two years who sold their employee stock options (Esops). The company has also pruned its employee base from 975-odd employees to 500 or so, some of these corporate employees had stock options. Interestingly the number of shareholders is more than what restaurant aggregator Zomato had itself before its IPO," said a company official, who is close to the development. Beer production is a capital-intensive industry, with states claiming nearly two-thirds of its revenues. It also has high freight costs, which reduces profitability. As per B9 Beverages' most recent filings with the ministry of corporate affairs, its operating revenue slumped to ₹638.5 crore in FY24 from ₹824.3 crore in FY23. Losses also widened significantly, rising to ₹748.8 crore in FY24 compared to ₹445.4 crore in FY23. The company, which had earlier planned to go public in 2026, has now put it off to 2028. Mint has also learnt that the company has multiple share classes, with equity holders owning only a small portion of the shares as of 16 June, when part of the rights issue closed. Other passive shareholders will also participate and the window will close by the middle of next month. So far, it has already received commitments for about 85% of the right's issue amount and the aggregate number of investors participating so far is over 300, which includes the large family office, which is expected to come for the first time. "It's definitely a big discount from the last time when the Japanese beer maker came in at ₹718 per share. From that, this is a 55% discount, that's why a lot of employees have participated. It's a good price. While my investment could go either way, most investors and myself believe this could go up because it's strengthening its position in many markets again, one of which is Delhi," the official cited earlier added. Shifting focus The company, according to its latest investor relations report accessed by Mint, has now reduced its focus from 25-30 big markets to just the bigger metros and four tier-II cities. Queries sent to Ankur Jain, the company's founder, remained unanswered till press time. Read more: India is the world's fastest-growing alcohol market when global demand cools In FY23, Japan's Kirin Global (the makers of Kirin Ichiban beer) invested $70 million to become the largest shareholder in B9 Beverages. In FY24, Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group invested $10 million in the company, which subsequently secured an additional $50 million in external commercial borrowing from Kirin and Tiger Pacific Capital. In February, Mint also reported that B9 was facing troubles with tax authorities in various states with huge pending liabilities not just to states but also to employees who had not been receiving salaries on time. However, a bulk of its employee dues from the last financial year have now been settled, said two company insiders. It has also worked on changing its sales and supply chain models in an attempt to turn the company around. It is now largely focusing on distributing its beer instead of manufacturing it, much like what other brands in the FMCG sector do, easing up its requirements for fixed and working capital. It has now reworked its business model with four breweries to move to contract manufacturing. Just two breweries—in Gwalior and Nagpur—will continue to exclusively produce for them. The beer company, in its investor deck, added that it was streamlining operations to focus on Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra—which now account for 55% of its revenue. It said it cut its manufacturing footprint by 40%, reducing capacity from 25 million to 15 million cases to improve utilisation to 58% by FY26 and slash factory overheads by nearly 50%. A shift to contract manufacturing at four breweries will save it as much as ₹600 crore annually, it added. With this, its margins could rise to 66% in FY26 from 63% in FY24. Fixed costs, too, it said, had dropped by ₹2,000 crore versus FY24, driven by a 40% reduction in headcount and tighter control over marketing, with spends now focused on in-store promotions. Read more: India's liquor makers are having a party. And it's not going to end soon According to industry body Brewers Association of India, 400 million beer cases were sold in FY23 and about 430 million in FY25. Three large brands command an 86% share of the overall market, including Kingfisher, Carlsberg and Budweiser maker Ab InBev (in no particular order). According to Bira's investor deck for May 2025, it is the country's fourth-largest beer company with a manufacturing capacity of 2.1 million hectolitres or 25 million cases per annum.
Economic Times
18-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
BlackRock could pour ₹500 cr into Bira91's promoter group
American asset management fund BlackRock is in advanced talks to invest '500 crore in the promoter group of B9 Beverages, maker of Bira91 craft beers, through structured debt, according to multiple people directly aware of the negotiations. ADVERTISEMENT The funds-to be infused in holding companies controlled by B9 Beverages promoter Ankur Jain-will be used to acquire early shareholders such as Peak XV Partners and Sofina's holdings and to infuse new capital into B9 Beverages, one of the executives said. The development comes amid liquidity woes, losses and supply disruptions, which the company has attributed to its name change that triggered a regulatory hurdle and led to inventory losses. The company reported '748-crore net loss in FY24 while its revenue declined to '638 crore from '927 crore in FY23. Its volume sales fell to 6-7 million cases in FY24 from 9 million cases in the previous fiscal. Besides '500-crore debt from BlackRock, B9 is also launching a '100-crore rights issue on May 22, which is expected to close in June, one of the executives cited above said. "B9 and its founders are in the process of raising $100 million in aggregate from a set of investors and family offices," Jain told ET in an email reply. "The capital will be infused as primary capital in the company and part of it would be deployed by the founders to buy out early-stage investors." ADVERTISEMENT He declined to divulge further email seeking comments from BlackRock remained unanswered. ADVERTISEMENT The world's largest asset manager owns an equity stake of a little under 8% in Molson Coors, the world's fourth largest brewer that owns popular American beer brands Miller Lite, Coors Lite and Blue Moon Belgian White. It also owns a stake in Treasury Wine Estates, a prominent Australian wine company that owns 70 brands which are marketed globally."B9 Beverages has a term sheet for about $100 million to be split into two tranches. So, some part of the funds could come in the first tranche and the remainder in the second tranche," said one of the executives cited above. "There's a plan to restructure some of the obligations and make the company operationally more efficient." ADVERTISEMENT B9 has created a long-term brand with Bira at a time when it's difficult to build a national beer brand. "So, that's the conviction investors have behind backing the company," he said. BlackRock's funding is expected to be in the form of a debt instrument with a back-ended coupon to incentivise the borrower to meet certain conditions, such as operational targets of revenue and Ebitda goals of B9 Beverages. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
