Warburg snaps up majority stake in Parksons Packaging

MUMBAI: Global private equity major Warburg Pincus has picked up a controlling stake in folding carton manufacturer Parksons Packaging by buying out the existing private equity investors, Kedaara Capital, Olza Holdings and IIFL, for an undisclosed amount.

The transaction is through Green Fin Investments BV, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, an entity focused on growth investing.

The deal also included the promoters, the Kejriwal family, selling a part of their stake in the company.

However, 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, the companies said in a statement .

Parksons, founded in 1996, is the country’s largest independent folding carton manufacturer with a highly diversified product portfolio and over 300 customers across consumer, food, pharmaceutical and other end-markets.

Parksons with its six manufacturing facilities has the capacity to convert over 1,25,000 mt of paper board annually and is the market leader in paper packaging.

“We’ve had a strong collaborative relationship with Kedaara over the past six years. The partnership with Warburg will help in our next phase of growth. This investment is a testament to the strong, high quality business we have built over the past two decades,” said managing director Siddharth Kejriwal.

Warburg Pincus India head Vishal Mahadevia said 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.

Manish Kejriwal and Parin Mehta of Kedaara Capital said Parksons is positioned to further strengthen its dominance as the country’s largest folding carton packaging solutions provider.