Everstone-backed Subway set to plan India IPO to raise up to $150 million

The company has held banker pitches over the last few weeks and formal appointments are expected in the coming weeks, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

“The entity doesn’t need much primary capital and the public listing would largely facilitate a partial exit for its early investor Everstone although the exact contours are subject to change as the discussions are still preliminary,” one of the people cited above said.

The proposed listing comes at a time when India’s $80-billion food services market is expanding rapidly, with the sector expected to grow at a 10–11% CAGR through 2030, driven by organized chains and online delivery, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants.

A second person added that banker pitches have been held and formal appointments will happen over the coming weeks. A third person confirmed the details, stating that "the company is carefully assessing its listing plans on the back of the ongoing market volatility."

Subway India and Everstone did not respond to Mint's requests for a comment till the time of publishing.

Ownership context

Everstone owns a majority stake in Subway India, which also counts Norwest Venture Partners and Playbook Partners among its investors.

Nearly a year ago, Mint reported that Everstone was exploring a partial stake sale in the fast-food chain’s local operations as part of a $100 million private fundraising round. Those plans have since evolved, with the company now preparing for a public market listing.

Everstone operates the master franchise of Subway restaurants in India through Eversub India, giving it the right to open and operate Subway restaurants in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. A master franchise refers to an agreement between the franchisor (or company owner) and an organization to manage and expand its presence within a specific area.

The partial exit plans come nearly five years after the Singapore-based private equity firm invested an undisclosed sum in the food chain to facilitate expansion in India and South Asia.

India expansion

Subway entered India in 2000 with its first store in Saket, Delhi. The company initially operated as a franchise-owned business until Everstone acquired the master franchise in 2021.

At the time, Subway India planned to more than triple the number of restaurants in the region over 10 years from the nearly 700 locations it had in November 2021.

India is now the largest market for Eversub, which is expanding aggressively.

Eversub India is a fully owned subsidiary of Culinary Brands Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates several food and beverage brands—both global and local—across the Indian sub-continent. Its portfolio includes coffee brands such as Lavazza (Italian) and Fresh & Honest (Indian).

Everstone has built deep expertise in scaling consumer and food brands across India and South Asia. In the QSR space, it has operated Burger King in India and Indonesia as a master franchisee, along with Domino’s Indonesia, among other investments.

The firm was also an early investor in Sula Vineyards and exited long before its IPO in 2022. More recently, it divested its entire 11.26% stake in Restaurant Brands Asia (RBA) — which runs Burger King in India and Indonesia — to Inspira Global in a ₹460 crore transaction earlier this year.

Listed peers

If the IPO goes as planned, Subway India will join listed QSR chains such as Devyani International, Westlife Foodworld, and Barbeque-Nation Hospitality.

Sapphire Foods India, another listed player, is preparing to merge with Devyani International in a nearly billion-dollar deal.

The QSR sector has also seen heightened deal activity.

Last year, Devyani announced plans to acquire homegrown chain ‘Biryani by Kilo’, while Wow! Momo raised capital from Singularity in December.

Other restaurant chains have also attracted funding. Burma Burma raised over ₹38 crore from existing investor Negen Capital and new investors Endurance Capital and Coheron Wealth. Burger Singh raised ₹82 crore in a round led by Artal Asia Pte Ltd alongside Negen Undiscovered Value Fund and Aurum Rising India Fund.

Subway was founded in 1965 by 17-year-old Fred DeLuca and family friend Peter Buck in the US. In 1974, the founders adopted franchising to accelerate expansion—a model replicated globally.

The chain operates in 100 countries with over 40,000 restaurants. Subway restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees, a network that includes more than 20,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners globally. It is among the world’s largest restaurant chains by store count.