Baring Private Equity Partners India (BPEP) is understood to be close to investing around Rs 350 crore in SuperMax Corporation, a national razor blade manufacturer. Investment bankers close to the deal say that BPEP is understood to have pipped its peers Kohlberg Kravis and Robers (KKR) and Bain Capital to the deal.
SuperMax, which also has strong global operat-ions, is the world’s second largest razor blade manufacturer after Gillette. The company, which holds aro-und 60 per cent by volume in double edge blades, has been in the market for the past few months to raise funds for its expansion. SuperMax manages its Indian operations through Vidyut Mettalics. R K Malhotra, chairman, Vidyut Mettalics and BPEP could not be reached for comments.
Investment bankers close to Vidyut Mettalics said that the deal is expected to be announced in the near future. The fresh infusion is understood to be used for expanding the geographical spread and for logical extensions of the product line. According to industry information, the company is looking at a topline of Rs 1,000 crore from the region and may be looking at expanding its presence in grooming aids such as shave foam, gel, aftershave and the like.
BPEP is presently inve-sting from its third fund which is understood to have a corpus of around $350 million. The fund invests in technology, healthcare, consumer goods, engineering services (including alternative energy companies) and financial services.
BPEP India commenced investment management activities in 1998 as part of the Baring Private Equity Partners Group. It provides investment advisory services to Baring Funds, which have cumulative assets under management in excess of $275 million, in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, information technology and services sectors.
BPEP has had an amazing run investing in India and one of its major deal was with MphasiS BFL.
BPEP had invested around $16 million in 1998 and had a dream exit at $225 million when it was acquired by EDS Corp of US.