Paradise Papers: Restaurant king Sanjay Chhabra takes Mauritius route to reach India

Delhi-based restaurateur Sanjay Chhabra, owner of burger chains in India, entered into a joint venture with a UK firm which invested in India through Mauritius with the help of offshore legal firm Appleby.

Appleby records show that Chhabra’s Dolomite Restaurants and Sierra Nevada Restaurants Pvt Ltd are joint venture companies with UK-based International Market Management (UK) Ltd, which invested in these companies through its 100 per cent subsidiary IMM Associates Mauritius.

Dolomite Restaurants Pvt Ltd’s 50 per cent shares are with Carnation Hospitality and the remaining 50 per cent with IMM Associates Mauritius, according to documents dated March 31, 2015 in Appleby records.

The directors of Dolomite Restaurants are Sanjay Chhabra, Saurabh Khanijo and Jasper Timothy Mathew Reid. Another UK-based director, David Coldwells Stewart, resigned from the position on April 1, 2016.

IMM Associates Mauritius was incorporated on May 2, 2014 in Mauritius as a 100 per cent subsidiary of International Market Management (UK) Ltd. IMM Associates also holds 50 per cent shares of Sierra Nevada Restaurants Pvt Ltd in which the remaining 50 per cent shares are with Rollatainers Ltd. Sanjay Chhabra and Saurabh Khanijo are directors of Sierra Nevada Restaurants Ltd.

Rollatainers was incorporated on February 14, 1968 in Delhi and its directors were Kolkata-based K Vishwanathan, Ramesh Bhargava, Nishit Bhargava and M K Sen and Delhi-based Motilal Bhargava and Somnath Nagpal.

Rollatainers’ 100 per cent subsidiary is Boutonniere Hospitality Pvt Ltd, which is based at Dharuhera in Rewari district of Haryana. Rollatainers holds beneficial interest in shares of Carnation Hospitality.

According to Appleby records, IMM Associates Mauritius and Rollatainers hold 20,00,000 shares each, at Rs 10 per share value, in Sierra Nevada Restaurants. In Dolomite Restaurants Pvt Ltd, IMM Associates Mauritius and Carnation Hospitality hold 19,99,971 shares each at Rs 10 per share value.

Sanjay Chhabra did not respond to a questionnaire emailed by The Indian Express to IDs listed in RoC documents of Dolomite Restaurants and Sierra Nevada Restaurants.

Jasper Reids, director in both of these companies on behalf of IMM Associates, did not respond to emails and text messages from The Indian Express seeking comment.