Morgan Stanley invests $46m in Thailand diaper maker DSG

The investment is the result of a tender offer by North Haven Private Equity Asia Angel Co, a subsidiary of MSPEA, for at least 296 million shares of DSG; as closed, the deal will see North Haven take 323 million shares, about a 26% stake. North Haven paid THB5 per share, a slight premium to the closing price of THB4.8 on October 10.

MSPEA hopes to delist DSG in the next 12 months and plans to make the proposal once the shares are fully acquired on October 13, according to a statement. The plan is subject to approval by the company's board of directors and remaining shareholders.

DSG is headquartered in Bangkok, and is also present in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. It markets disposable baby diapers under the Fitti, Babylove, and PetPet brands, and adult diapers under the Certainty brand. It is the top-selling maker of adult diapers in Thailand and the second-biggest maker of baby diapers in Thailand and Malaysia. In its most recent annual report, the company recorded revenue of THB7.5 billion for the year ended December 2015, down from THB8.3 billion the year before. Over the same period profit dropped from THB405 million to THB31 million.

North Haven is owned by North Haven Private Equity Asia (NHPEA) IV, MSPEA's fourth pan-Asia fund, which launched in 2012 as MSPEA IV and closed in 2014 at $1.7 billion. The fund pursues both minority and control investments in public and private mid-sized businesses across Asia, focusing on the consumer, financial services, and industrial products sectors. This is the fund's first investment in Thailand.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• PIPEs
• Thailand
• Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia