JSM Corp, Hard Rock Cafe’s India Franchisee Is Looking To Raise Rs 200 Crore

JSM Corp. Put Ltd is the company that runs a number of global food brands in India like Hard Rock Cafe and California Pizza Kitchen. They now plan to extent the family of restaurants to more and are hoping to raise Rs 200 crore from private equity investors. 

This also means that some of the company’s older investors will have to sell their shares. Lodha Capital Markets is advising the company on the fundraising.  

According to Jay Singh, co-founder and executive director for JSM, “About Rs.150 crore will be raised primarily from new investors, while Rs.50 crore will be a secondary transaction where the legacy investors will be bought over.”

Apart from Hard Rock Cafe and California Pizza Kitchen, JSM also runs frozen dessert chain Pinkberry and restaurants like Shiro, The Big Kahuna, Plus91 as well as Ginger Tiger on 100 feet road, Indiranagar. 

JSM was founded by Jay Singh and Sanjay Mahtani in 2004. in 2012, PremjiInvest acquired 22% for $25 million. According to Singh, PremjiInvest might put in additional funds during this round as well. 

While Sanjay and Jay hold a combined share of 55% in JSM, the remaining is held by investors. 

The funds raised will be used to expand the number of current outlets, as well as for bringing in more international brands, Singh said. 

As part of the expansion plan, JSM will launch Panda Express, the popular Chinese food chain, by August. Panda Express has about 1,800 outlets across six countries and revenue exceeding $2 billion.