SB Packagings and Premji Invest which is the private equity firm that invested in SB Packagings in August 2021 have signed a joint venture agreement with Constantia Flexibles, for its Indian business and operations. The combination will create a substantial business with ten locations in the country and it will allow SB Packagings to achieve its ambition to become a dominant player in the Indian and South Asian market.
The press releases were simultaneously issued by the two companies on 20 January 2023 in New Delhi and Vienna. Although the deal has been cooking for several months, and clarity awaited on several key questions, the closing of the joint venture agreement is expected to be completed by the end of March 2023, pending regulatory approvals.
Amit Banga, the managing director of SB Packagings based in Delhi with its plant in nearby Hissar, stated, “We are delighted to enter into this joint venture with Constantia and look forward to continuing to develop our businesses together. SB Packagings is known in the Indian packaging industry for its focus on sustainability and innovation. This JV will give the SBP Group a pan India presence across 10 manufacturing locations.”
“I am very pleased to partner with SB Packagings and Premji Invest,” says Pim Vervaat, CEO of Constantia Flexibles. “I have the greatest respect for SB Packagings’ achievements and look forward to the joint venture, supported by Premji Invest, to grow the combined business profitably.”
The companies have said that the joint venture will help them to pursue organic as well as inorganic growth in higher value-added market segments. The implication is that the joint venture will leverage SB Packagings’ strong growth trajectory in the hygiene, food, and HPC segment while further extending the Indian and Asian markets for the mono-material EcoLam product range developed by Constantia and manufactured in its Ahmedabad plant.
Essentially the joint business will bring together the advanced mono-material capabilities of both SB Packagings and Constantia Flexibles India to offer medium to high-barrier packaging solutions to the food and hygiene markets. As SB Packagings is a leading player in the hygiene segment, the new partnership will help extend the joint portfolio across the ten combined manufacturing locations of the joint venture.
SB Packagings, founded in 1989 by OP Banga and Amit Banga, is one of the leading Indian flexible packaging companies. The SBP group has been at the forefront of manufacturing mono-polymer sustainable packaging ahead of its peers and has won global awards for its sustainable packaging innovations. SBP with over 50% market share, is by far the largest company manufacturing hygiene packaging for leading global and Indian brands in the country and it has a strong footprint in the food and beverages segments as well.
The investment arm of Azim Premji’s endowment and philanthropic initiatives, Premji Invest has for more than a decade helped medium-sized Indian companies grow into globally viable competitors. In the past, it has supported companies such as Fab India, Hygienic Research, ID foods, Lenskart, Policy Bazaar, Flipkart, SBI General Life Insurance, Gold Plus Glass, Best Value Chemicals, Sagar Cements, Micro Plastics, Shubham Housing.
Constantia Flexibles is a key player in the packaging industry’s drive to sustainability in compliance with both CEFLEX and RecyClass guidelines. Constantia Flexibles was rated Level A by Climate Change Leadership (CDP) in 2021 and Gold by EcoVadis in 2022.
Note – this article was amended at 1500 hours and again at 1610 hours on 23.1.22 with some additional information including the combined number of plants of both companies entering the joint venture.
