Apollo, Multiples join race for Piramal’s glass biz | Economic Times

Mumbai: Buyout fund Apollo Global Management and Renuka Ramnath’s Multiples Alternate Asset Management have entered the race to acquire Piramal Group’s glass business that’s considered Asia’s biggest for specialty products, multiple people aware of the talks told ET.The two join Blackstone, the world’s largest PE firm, and Partners Group Holding AG for the buyout, which could be in the range of Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore ($1 billion), the people mentioned above add. Bloomberg was the first to report about Blackstone and Partner Group making the shortlist last week.All four have been qualified after the first round of screening and have begun due diligence before they submit a binding bid next month.Billionaire Ajay Piramal’s decision to exit non-core businesses like glass to deleverage Piramal Group’s balance sheet comes close on the heels of flagship Piramal Enterprises’ move to unlock value in the pharma business by selling a 20 per cent stake to Carlyle for Rs 3,705 crore ($490 million). The ongoing global pandemic has also given a perfect window to cash out, leveraging the record pharma sales worldwide.ET was the first to report the proposed sale plans on July 30.Both Apollo and Blackstone have been involved in blockbuster transactions in the glass business in Europe in the past. Apollo had acquired Verallia, the manufacturer responsible for Dom Perignon bottles and Nutella jars, from Compagnie de Saint Gobain of France in 2015 for just under 3 billion. The company, the third largest glass maker in the world, made its initial share sale in 2019.78246326Similarly, Blackstone made one of its best returns from Gerresheimer, the German pharmaceutical packaging specialist, selling its stake first through a public listing and then exiting its residual 25 per cent stake at a 7.5 times gain within four years of acquiring the manufacturer of glass bottles and plastic products from Investcorp and JP Morgan in 2004 for $955.2 million, inclusive of debt.The former CEO of Gerresheimer is believed to be advising Blackstone for the Piramal sale, said one of the sources mentioned above. In India, Blackstone also is the controlling shareholder in Essel Propack.“Multiples PE might be backed by one of its largest LPs, CPPIB in this deal. They have a co-investment agreement for the recent fund that it raised,” said a person with direct knowledge of the development.The fund saw the first close of its third fund at $560 million in December 2019. The fund that targets around $750-800 million toward its final close counts India’s sovereign fund NIIF and IFC as large investors apart from CPPIB.Apollo Global, Blackstone Capital and Partners Group declined to comment. Emailed queries sent to Multiples did not elicit any response till press time. Piramal Group declined to comment for the story.Investment banks Bank of America and Axis Capital have been tasked to find a buyer for the business. Several PE funds including Bain, KKR, Advent had evaluated the prospect, but only four have been shortlisted.Piramal Glass caters to three key industries — pharmaceutical, cosmetics and perfumery, food and beverage — designing and manufacturing bottles and vials. About 77 per cent of its sales come from high-end cosmetics and specialty spirits.It has seven subsidiaries, of which two — Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC and Piramal Glass USA Inc — are operating subsidiaries and own manufacturing locations in Sri Lanka and the US, respectively.The company has five manufacturing locations — two each in India and the US, and one in Sri Lanka — with a total production capacity of 1,435 tonnes per day (TPD), with 12 furnaces and 63 production lines.The company said its current global sales have touched Rs 2,500 crore ($357 million). It is expected to have clocked Rs 750 crore ($90-$100 million) in operating profit before tax (Ebitda) in FY20 backed by rising sales in the pharma segment, its smallest with 23 per cent of total revenue.Earlier in the year, the company announced a Rs 300-crore ($42 million) investment in a greenfield plant in Gujarat – an expansion plan that included one new furnace with seven new manufacturing lines across approximately 300,000 square feet plant, catering primarily to high-end specialty spirit, food & beverage and pharmaceutical markets primarily for exports to countries in Asia, Europe and the US.In a recent interview, the management had said that the company is seeing a 30 per cent jump in sales of Type 1 borosilicate glass vials, specialty vials used to bottle medicines, in the June quarter, on account of a demand surge for medicines to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.