The Mumbai headquartered company announced the acquisition deal to PrintWeek on (27 November), which, it said, adds new customers from the Manohar fold, especially in the alcobev segment, "by far the most premium segment for folding cartons".

Siddharth Kejriwal, managing director at Parksons, termed the acquisition a combination of strategic, cultural, customer segment, and location fits. "The essence of the acquisition was to provide more power to the customers."

With the addition of the two Manohar plants, Parksons will now have a total of eight factories and the joint entity a converting capacity of close to 1,50,000 tonnes per annum. 

Kejriwal explained, "The biggest beneficiaries of the Manohar acquisition will be our customers. The production capabilities of eight plants instead of two is a win-win for our customers, be it in confectionery or alcobev. Kejriwal added that Parksons is delighted to expand its portfolio of products and provide best in class service and products for the customers.

Parksons did not share the size of the Manohar deal. Kejriwal said the revenue target of Parksons would be Rs 2,000+ crores in the next financial year. Kejriwal said, "We will add printing lines in a phased manner. To begin with, we have ordered a pedigree press and post-press systems such as die-cutters and folder-gluers to supplement the existing infrastructure."

Siddharth Kejriwal and Ramesh Kejriwal

Manohar Packaging was established in 1994 by Nishikant Shirodkar with a plant in Goa. In January 2020, the company set up a Greenfield 1.40-lakh sqft linear plant in Punjab and commenced packaging production. "We were very impressed with Manohar's Punjab plant, which is both large and scalable, equipped with the best of technologies," said Kejriwal. "The plant is built strategically and is close to some of the largest industrial belts of Punjab and Himachal. The plant can house a minimum of four presses and converting lines with its current infrastructure, giving us huge scope for expansion."

Parksons has six factories in North, West, East and South India, most of them with scalability options. In the North, Kejriwal said, we are operating at 80% utilisation. "Now, with two other plants in Punjab and Goa, we can plan big and scale up faster. Once the printing lines and complementing equipment are in place, we hope to scale up the combined converting capability to 3,00,000 tonnes per annum."

Aditya Patwardhan, director at Manohar Packaging, said, "We were operating in the upper echelon of the top packagers in India. However, we needed a boost to take the company to greater heights." He added, "We were exploring multiple options. The series of conversations with the Kejriwals ensured everything fell into place."

Aditya Patwardhan, director at Manohar Packaging

Patwardhan said, "The Parksons expertise will enhance the consumer experience and help brands utilise their packaging challenges. I am truly excited to offer the technology plus production capabilities to our clients and work in collaboration with them to develop their business further."

In April this year, American private equity firm Warburg Pincus acquired a majority stake in Parksons Packaging. Ramesh Kejriwal, chairman at Parksons, said, "Warburg Pincus is excited with this acquisition and continues to put strength behind the Parksons Packaging management to grow and build the business. Warburg believes the industry will consolidate faster. The opportunity for growth in paper-based packaging is going to accelerate with the concerns around sustainability."

As a subsidiary of Parksons, Patwardhan will continue as director of Manohar Packaging. Siddharth and Chaitanya Kejriwal from the Parksons family and the Warburg representative will be inducted into Manohar's board.