Beer-maker plans fifth brewery before IPO

B9 Beverages Pvt Ltd, the owner of Indian craft-beer brand Bira 91, will open its fifth local brewery before the end of the year as it seeks to capture swelling demand in the country for more flavoursome tipples before a planned initial public offering.

The new brewery in Madhya Pradesh—Bira's second there—will initially add 400,000 hectoliters a year, Ankur Jain, the 41year-old chief executive officer, who established the brewer in 2015, told Bloomberg News in an interview.

Known for its cartoon punk monkey mascot and backed by Sequoia Capital and Japanese beverage firm Kirin Holdings Co, B9 has tapped investors for about $50 million so far this year. Amid heated interest in India's startup space—and their IPOs, Jain said the brewer is also preparing for its last and largest round of private fund raising set to conclude in 2021 before it pins down its listing plans.

"Consumers are looking for more flavour," he said on the robust demand trajectory. "I don't think there will be any slow down."

The capacity at Bira's new planned unit can be expanded to 1 million hectoliters—a hectoliter is equal to 100 litres—boosting Bira's existing capacity of 2 million hectoliters. Currently, the country's fourth largest brewer, Bira trails foreign firms that dominate the Indian market, including Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV, which owns India's Kingfisher lager.

With sales amounting to $170 million on an annual basis, Bira is set to be profitable at an operating level within six months, Jain said.