Warburg acquires majority stake in Parksons Packaging

As part of the transaction, the company’s existing private equity investors Kedaara Capital AIF 1, Olza Holdings and IIFL have completely exited their investment in Parksons; the Kejriwal family (founder family) has sold a partial stake.

Ramesh, Siddharth 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. Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the sellers and its affiliates.

Siddharth Kejriwal, managing director, Parksons Packaging, said “We have had a strong collaborative relationship with Kedaara in our growth journey over the past six years and now we are excited to partner with Warburg Pincus in our next phase of growth.”

“Its 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,” he added.

Founded in 1996, Parksons is one of India’s largest independent folding carton manufacturer with a diversified product portfolio and more than 300 customers across consumer, food, pharmaceutical and other end-user markets. Through its six manufacturing facilities across India, Parksons holds the capacity to convert more than 1,25,000 MT of paperboard annually. The company boasts its pan-India presence with plants located at Daman, Chakan, Pantnagar, Guwahati and Sri City.

According to Warburg, as a leader in paper packaging, Parksons has consistently been at the forefront of innovative and sustainable packaging offerings, which has led to its robust growth since its inception. And its increase in shift towards paper packaging and a strong underlying consumption story will further accelerate the growth going forward. “We believe that packaging is a great way to write the fast-growing consumption story in India, said, Vishal Mahadevia, managing director and head of India, Warburg Pincus.

He added, “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 premiumisation. 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 we invested in Parksons, it saw a high quality, market leading and scaled consumer derivative play led by a strong founder family. We enjoyed our 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.”

The Mumbai-headquartered packaging major was also named among the top 100 Great Places to Work 2020 in India.