Cobra Beer turns to city pubs and bars from curryhouses

Cobra Beer, the UK's largest supplier of bottled Indian premium lager, is turning to the City to expand beyond curryhouses and into pubs and bars.

It plans to raise up to £1m by offering up to one million shares through a private placement to fund growth over the next two years.

The London-based company also intends to support further bids for finance by floating on the Stock Exchange within two to three years.

Founder and managing director Karan Bilimoria said he planned to increase the number of Indian restaurants selling his beer as well as expand sales in bars, pubs and clubs.

"Our goal is to make Cobra a mainstream premium lager in the UK and ultimately a global brand," he said.

The beer is brewed under licence in Bedford by Charles Wells using a recipe developed by Bilimoria with a Bangalore-based brewer.

Launched in 1990, Cobra is available in 350 of the UK's 8,000 Indian restaurants, providing room for growth.

Over the past five years it has increased sales at more than 50 per cent a year to £4.2m, with annual growth predicted to average 25 per cent over the next five years.

Bilimoria also plans to increase sales of Cobra in the off-trade, where it is already available through several supermarket chains.