Private equity firm Warburg Pincus, which has backed companies like boAt, Ola, Avanse Financial, Good Host Spaces, Vistaar Finance and MyGlamm, has picked up a majority stake in a bath fittings brand.
The New York-headquartered PE firm, which has more than $80 billion in assets under management and an active portfolio of more than 250 companies, has invested in Watertec India Pvt. Ltd.
The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but VCCircle reported last month that Warburg was buying an around 66% stake in Watertec India from Watertec Malaysia and UMS Group at a valuation of about $200 million.
“This investment will enable us to fortify our leadership position in the polymer-bath fittings market, enhance our brand equity, expand our product portfolio and extend our geographic presence to newer regions allowing us to serve customers and channel partners better,” said Ramesh Baliga, executive director and CEO, Watertec India.
As part of this deal, Mathew Job will join Watertec as the executive chairman. He brings with him over 30 years of experience and expertise in scaling distribution-led consumer businesses. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals. Previously, he headed a metal-based bath-fittings brand Grohe India.
Founded in 1996, Watertec is a polymer-based bath fittings brand and has a deep distribution network spanning more than 20,000 retail touchpoints. It has a product portfolio comprising over 150 products across various categories, including taps, showers, mixers, health faucets, bathroom accessories, pipes, sanitaryware and other allied products. It has manufacturing facilities in South India.
“We believe bath-fittings is an attractive market poised for strong growth driven by secular tailwinds from increasing sanitation levels, increasing housing penetration in Indian Tier 2/3 cities spurring greater demand for bath and sanitaryware and the penetration of polymer-based products offering better durability,” said Anish Saraf, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus India.
Saraf said that Watertec, with its leadership position, superior product quality and deep-distribution network targeting Tier 2 and 3 cities and rural India, is well positioned to capitalize on these tailwinds.
Warburg Pincus was founded in 1966. To date, it has invested more than $109 billion in over 1,000 companies in more than 40 countries. In the past few months, it has been making in a series of exits from its investments in India. In addition to divesting from PVR Ltd, the company has also slashed its stake in Kalyan Jewellers and Home First Finance.
