Barista Coffee to be sold by Amtek Group

Barely a year after it acquired Barista Coffee, debt-laden auto component maker Amtek Group is looking to sell off the loss making Italian coffee chain, reported ET.

Amtek may bring in consultancy firm Grant Thornton to look for potential buyers for Barista, one of the officials quoted above said, adding though that Grant Thornton hasn't been given the signed mandate yet.

"The deal could also be structured in a way that the Arvind Dham-promoted Amtek Auto could liquidate about a third in Carnation Hospitality, which manages Amtek's food business," another official said.

Recently, Dham had announced the group's decision to offload non-core assets and exit non-auto businesses, after the firm defaulted on repayment of Rs 800 crore.

Amtek is the fourth owner of Barista Coffee, the oldest among India's private coffee chains, and the potential sale points to not only Amtek's cash crunch problems but also the struggle in the country's coffee chain industry where most players are struggling to make profits.

Most of Barista Coffee's 170-plus stores are loss making, though in terms of store count, Barista continues to be the country's second-largest cafe chain after Cafe Coffee Day.

Other big players in India's estimated Rs 1,400-crore cafe business with over 3,100 branded outlets include Starbucks and Costa Coffee. Carnation Hospitality, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amtek Group's listed firm Rollatainers, had bought out Barista coffee for Rs 100 crore from Italian coffee firm Lavazza Spa.