Baby Marine Ventures ropes in KPMG draw up expansion plan

KOCHI: Baby Marine Ventures group, a Rs 750-crore conglomerate based in Kochi, has roped in leading consultants KPMG to prepare a roadmap to consolidate and expand its ten verticals over the next 10 years, a top official said.

The flagship seafood vertical remains the principal revenue earner for the group with a turnover of Rs 350 crore. It has made its online seafood sales company Daily Fish into a separate vertical.

The other verticals of the group include financial services, real estate, warehousing, hospital, agriculture, restaurants, entertainment and dairy products.

“Except real estate and plantations, others are sunrise sectors and we except them to grow at minimum of 20% annually,’’ said Alex K Babu, chief investment officer of the group.

The group branched out to agriculture a few years ago by buying around 2,000 acres in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra for planting rubber. It also has 100 acres of cardamom plantation in Wayanad. In the pipeline is expansion to organic vegetable and fruits cultivation.

In the entertainment segment, Baby Marine Ventures group has partnered with actor Mohanlal for production and distribution of movies. “The segment offers lot of scope. In future we can go digital and even look at the possibility of setting up multiplexes,’’ said Babu who is also the managing director of the group’s financial arm Hedge Equities.

The group has a land bank worth Rs 500 crore, which is being utilised for its development activities.

The group decided to venture into more sectors around ten years ago. “With rupee appreciating 10% at that time we decided that we cannot bank on exports alone and started investing in other sectors as well. Now it is more or less balanced with investment in local ventures,’’ Babu said.

Its only hospital venture Baby Marine Hospital is the second largest revenue earner with a turnover of Rs 200 crore and the group is bullish on this segment.

The group has invested in the restaurant business by partnering with Kozhikode-based Paragon hotel. It hopes to earn increased rental revenue through its warehouses. Its dairy sector that produces Amrut brand of milk and related products currently earn Rs 75 crore, Babu said.