Warburg Pincus buys control of India's Parksons Packaging

The deal size was not disclosed, but several Indian media put it at INR22-23 billion ($296-309 million). Kedaara paid INR2 billion for a minority interest – 35-40%, according to VCCircle – in Parksons in 2015. This facilitated an exit for ChrysCapital, which had purchased a 21% stake for $25 million in 2006, AVCJ Research’s records show.

The Kejriwal family, who founded Parksons in 1996, has made a partial exit to Warburg Pincus. Ramesh Kejriwal, Siddharth Kejriwal and Chaitanya Kejriwal will continue in their roles as chairman, managing director, and joint managing director, respectively.

Parksons claims to be India’s largest independent manufacturer of folding cartons used by more than 300 customers, including suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics. Its six production plants can convert more than 125,000 metric tons of paperboard into cartons every year.

“We believe that packaging is a great way to play the fast-growing consumption story in India. The paper packaging market is expected to demonstrate strong growth over the next five years, driven by underlying expansion in consumer end markets, further bolstered by secular tailwinds of sustainability and premiumization,” said Vishal Mahadevia, head of India at Warburg Pincus, in a statement.

There have been several sizeable investments in India’s packaging industry by private equity firms seeking a consumer proxy. Last December, The Blackstone Group agreed to buy Piramal Glass, a glass packaging business owned by Piramal Group, for an enterprise valuation of INR75 billion.

Three months earlier, the GP generated proceeds of INR18.6 billion through a partial exit from Essel Propack, which provides the tubes to 40% of the world’s toothpaste. Blackstone reduced its stake to 51%, having paid INR32.1 billion for a 75% interest in 2019.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Buyouts
• Trade sale
• Industrials
• India
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• Kedaara Capital
• manufacturing