The Burger King IPO has been put on hold due to the current market conditions, said Dhanpal Jhaveri, vice-chairman of Everstone Capital, adding there was still strong demand for the same.
“On Burger King, we had filed and we continue to be engaged. I would say there is a pause as far as the IPO is concerned but there is very high demand from high quality investors. As the economy comes back and the market opens up, clearly we will be looking to take it public,” said Jhaveri.
Everstone Group has assets under management (AUM) worth $5 billion in India and Southeast Asia.
Exit options for the PE industry are far and few currently, especially at these valuations. Jhaveri said that the current crisis has put a pause on the entire credit industry and a lot more needs to be done by the government.
On RBI’s announcements to ease the pain for NBFCs, Jhaveri says it is unlikely that the companies in real need of funds will get help even in LTRO-2.0.
Jhaveri views realty sector to be in pain overall except the warehouse and logistics space and seeks government intervention to save the sector.
Everstone has about 50 million square feet of developed or under construction realty projects mostly in logistics and industrial parks with foreign partners like GIP & CPPIB.
However, Jhaveri said “every adversity also presents opportunities and there are pockets where the PE industry is keeping a watch to make investments”.