According to an official press note on 26 April 2021 from Warburg Pincus, Green Fin Investments BV, an affiliate of leading global private equity firm Warburg Pincus, has acquired a majority stake in Parksons Packaging Limited. The note does not disclose the amount of the deal but earlier reports in the financial press about three weeks had speculated that it was of the order of Rs.2200 or 2300 crore.
Apparently, as a part of the transaction, the existing private equity investors, Kedaara Capital AIF 1, Olza Holdings Limited, and IIFL, have fully exited their investment in Parksons and the Kejriwal family has also encashed a part of its stake.
Ramesh Kejriwal, Siddharth Kejriwal, and Chaitanya Kejriwal will continue to retain their current positions of chairman, managing director, and joint managing director, respectively, and will drive the business going forward.
Parksons, founded in 1996, is one of India’s largest folding carton manufacturers with a highly diversified product portfolio and 300+ customers across the consumer, food, pharmaceutical, and other product segments. Through its 6 state of the art manufacturing facilities across India, Parksons has the capacity to convert more than 1,25,000 metric tons of paper board annually.
Kejriwal enthusiastic on partnering with Parksons
Siddharth Kejriwal, managing director, Parksons, said, “We have had a strong collaborative relationship with Kedaara in our growth journey over the past 6 years and now we are excited to partner with Warburg Pincus in our next phase of growth. Warburg Pincus’ investment in Parksons is a testament to the strong, high quality business we have built over the past two decades. Their unique understanding of the consumer market will help us further strengthen our position as India’s leading paper packaging solutions provider.”
Warburg Pincus to partner with the Founder family
Vishal Mahadevia, managing director and head of India, Warburg Pincus, said, “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. Warburg Pincus has a deep history in backing talented management teams and looks forward to partnering with the Founder family and the management team in growing the business.”
Manish Kejriwal and Parin Mehta, from Kedaara Capital AIF 1 said, “When Kedaara invested in Parksons, it saw a high quality, market-leading and scaled consumer derivative play led by a strong founder family. Kedaara enjoyed its strong collaborative relationship with the company and during the investment term, the business continuously outgrew the Indian packaging sector and generated significant value for all stakeholders. Parksons is today positioned to further strengthen its dominance as India’s largest folding carton packaging solutions provider.”
