समाचार Samāchār · Startups · 13 November 2026

Bodhi Tree buys control of A2B for $180 million. Uday Shankar will chair the board

The Chennai sweets and restaurant chain built by two brothers over five decades has sold a majority stake to the platform founded by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar. The plan is global growth and a possible listing.

A family-run food business from Chennai has chosen outside capital for its next stage. Adyar Ananda Bhavan, known as A2B, has sold a majority stake to Bodhi Tree Systems for $180 million. The deal was announced on 12 November. The size of the stake and the valuation have not been disclosed. Business Standard called it one of the largest deals in India’s food services sector.

A2B began as a sweet shop started by brothers K.T. Srinivasa Raja and K.T. Venkatesan about 50 years ago. It now runs around 160 restaurants and sweet-and-savoury stores in India and over 30 outlets abroad, in markets including Singapore, the US, Australia and Malaysia. It employs more than 15,000 people.

Bodhi Tree was founded in 2021 by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, the former Star India and Disney executive. It bought 36% of Allen Career Institute for $600 million in 2022 and is a strategic investor in JioStar. A2B is its third investment. Shankar will chair A2B’s new board. The founders will continue to guide the business.

The plan covers stronger leadership, digital capability, kitchens and manufacturing modernised to global standards, a wider range of healthy food, and growth in restaurants and packaged foods in India and abroad. Venkatesan said the plan will make A2B a company fit for the public markets. Veda Corporate Advisors advised A2B. Moelis & Company advised Bodhi Tree.

Credit first to the two brothers who built a brand on consistent quality, one store at a time. The buyers are betting that an Indian consumer brand can travel. That bet only pays if the systems behind the counter scale as well as the recipes.

What a founder takes from it: Trust built over decades is an asset capital will pay for. For family businesses the sequence is clear: build the brand, professionalise the management, then take it to the world and to the market. Indian food is one of the country’s most natural exports, and it needs more companies built to carry it.