Zomato board on March 15 picked up a 16.66% stake in Mukunda Foods Private Limited for cash consideration of Rs. 37.5 crore. The acquisition will be made via a subscription of 13,289 convertible preference shares and 10 % equity shares.
Zomato said in a regulatory filing, “We are glad to inform that our board of directors at its meeting held on March 15 has approved the acquisition that is of subscription 13,289 convertible preference shares and 10% equity shares collectively aggregating to 16.66% of the share capital of Mukunda Foods Private Limited on a fully diluted basis for an aggregate cash consideration of INR equivalent of $5 million.”
Mukund foods is a robotic food company that designs and manufactures smart robotic equipment to automate food preparation for restaurants. This enables restaurants to scale rapidly while maintaining consistency in food quality and customer experience across multiple outlets.
Mukunda helps restaurants become more efficient by reducing manpower cost wastage and boosting kitchen throughput. “Our investment will help Mukunda food scale faster, reduce food prices, expand margins and enhance customer delight”, Zomato said.
At the meeting held on March 15, the Zomato board also granted a loan of up to $150 million to Grofers India Private Limited (GIPL) in one or more tranches and delegated the authority to the senior management of the company. They will decide the key terms of the loan and execute the definitive documents at a future date.
The interest rate for the loan will be 12% per annum or higher with a tenor of not more than one year. This loan will support the capital investment of GIPL in the upcoming time and is in the line of investing up to $400 million cash in quick commerce in India over the next two years.