Blackstone Group Inc. sold its balance 10% stake in fragrances and flavours company S H Kelkar & Company in a block deal on Tuesday for a little over Rs 246 crore. Blackstone's stake was acquired by Swiss firm Firmenich's Indian arm Firmenich Aromatics Production India, according to exchange data.
With this the PE firm has fully exited its investment in this business with 4.5x multiple on capital invested, a person familiar with the deal said.
Blackstone invested around Rs 200 crore in S H Kelkar for a 33% stake in 2012 and 2013 through multiple tranches. Thereafter, in 2015, the PE firm took the company public at approximately Rs 180 per share and also sold stake worth approximately Rs 238 crore during the IPO.
The PE firm, then, made two partial exits in 2016 and early 2017.
In December 2016, Blackstone sold 4.03% stake in S H Kelkar for approximately Rs 174 crore ($25.87 million). Later in March 2017, Blackstone sold 7.55% stake in S H Kelkar for approximately Rs 334 crore (then $51.88 million), according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.
On Tuesday, Blackstone sold over 14 million shares at Rs 173 a piece.
"SH Kelkar has been a phenomenal investment for Blackstone and was our first IPO in India. We found a great partner in Kedar Vaze and are proud of the remarkable transformation the business has achieved during our investment period," Amit Dalmia, Operating Partner, Blackstone India, said in a statement. “Based on the success of this investment, we developed high-conviction in the B2B2C ( business to business to consumer) space and have since committed over $2 billion in this space in Asia, including our investments in EPL ( Essel Propack) and Piramal Glass,” he said.
Dalmia is on the board of S H Kelkar.
Blackstone invested in Essel Propack in 2019 and in Piramal Glass in December 2020.
S H Kelkar ended Tuesday at Rs 183 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The company reported a revenue of Rs 761 crore for FY21 on a profit of Rs 79.71 crore.
Blackstone has made several exits this year. In January, it sold its stake in Aakash Education Services to Byju’s for $2 billion earlier this year.
It sold partial stakes during the initial public offering of Sona Comstar and TaskUS. In September, Blackstone has sold shares worth approximately ₹2,025 crore ($275 million) in Embassy Office Parks REIT.
Note: The article has been updated to reflect buyer information.
