MTR Foods' parent firm Orkla India eyes public listing: Report

MTR Foods owner, Orkla India is likely to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) by next year before completing the restructuring of its business, Mint reported.

Orkla ASA, the Norwegian investment company entered India in 2007 by acquiring packaged food company MTR, specializing in spices, pickles, ready-to-cook idli, poha, etc.

In 2011, Orkla India also bought Rasoi Magic, a 100% subsidiary of MTR. In 2020, the company acquired a majority stake in Kerala-based spice company Eastern Condiment. Orkla India has three business units-MTR, Eastern, and International business.

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During the World Food India 2024 event, held last week in New Delhi, Orkla India CEO Sanjay Sharma said, "We did a pre-IPO (initial public offering) study; we presented that to the board, and they said, 'Why don't you evaluate whether you want to look at the capital markets?’. This happened in June. So, we are in the process of evaluation. We are at a very early stage, and whatever will happen will happen maybe in 2025 or so".

Sharma said they are planning to integrate its businesses within 12 months.

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"From an HR perspective, we are creating a single process across the entire organization. In manufacturing as well, we've got 11 factories…every factory has its own processes. We are looking at streamlining those processes. So, we are still in the process of integrating but at a deeper level. This will take us another year, at least," Orkla India CEO said.

On the spice industry, Sharma said, "The only good thing for us is, while India has seen food inflation, in spices we've seen deflation. So, we've seen raw material prices come down very sharply. We have rolled back prices on some packs".