Blackstone to buy Piramal Glass for $1 billion

Blackstone has acquired Piramal Group’s Piramal Glass for $1 billion. The private equity firm will pay $850 million upfront and the balance $150 million on achieving certain milestones over the next two years.

Talks had been going on with multiple players since July, but Piramal was looking for a deal that values the company close to $1 billion. Global private equity firm Bain Capital had also expressed interest in acquiring the company, but its bid was for around $800 million.

Piramal Glass Pvt Ltd is a specialist in the design, production and decoration of glass packaging for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and perfumery, and specialty food and beverage. It is a major supplier to companies including Coty, L'Oreal and Diageo.

It has a capacity of 1,475 tonnes per day, with 12 furnaces and 65 production lines. It has offices and warehousing facilities in France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, the US, the UAE, the UK, China and Sri Lanka, apart from India.

The Piramal group has sold the company as part of its strategy to exit non-core businesses and focus on its financial services arm. In June, it agreed to sell 20 per cent in Piramal Pharma to PE firm Carlyle Group Inc for $490 million.

For Balckstone, this deal takes its total investment in India to around $16 billion.

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