Access India Fund and its co-investors (Access PE) have exited investment in Nobel Hygiene by selling 18.7 per cent stake to Quadria for ₹191 crore.

The stake was picked up by Quadria Capital, who also invested in the company, and acquired additional stake from CLSA Capital, for about ₹500 crore.

Access PE had invested ₹37 crore in Nobel in 2013 for a 29 per cent stake. It exited partially in 2015 when it sold 10.3 per cent stake to CLSA.

Access has now made a complete exit by selling the balance 18.7 per cent stake, achieving a 28 per cent Internal Rata of Return.

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Sangeeta Modi, Managing Partner, Access Asset Managers, said: “We partnered with Nobel in early 2013 when the company was about ₹112 crore in revenue and already had a dominant market leadership in adult diapers. We have worked successfully with the founder Kamal Johari, who has achieved a five-fold growth in revenue during the period of our investment”.

“This investment validates our thesis of investing in market leaders in sunrise industries. The Indian diapers segment is still under-penetrated as India has by far the world’s largest population of infants and second-largest population of seniors,” Modi added.

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Dominant player

During Access’s investment period from 2013-2021, Nobel consolidated its adult diaper leadership and made significant inroads in baby diapers. Today, Nobel is the dominant market leader in adult diapers with its brand Friends, and the largest Indian player in baby diapers after the MNCs with its brands Teddyy and Snuggy.

Globally, adult diapers are a significant consumer category at about 25 per cent of the baby diaper market size.

Veda Corporate Advisors acted as exclusive bankers to the transaction and Mulla & Mulla were the legal advisors to Access India Fund.