varmora: Carlyle acquires significant minority stake in Ahmedabad-based Varmora Granito

Carlyle Group on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership with Ahmedabad-based Varmora Granito through an acquisition of a significant minority stake in the company.

Equity for this transaction will come from funds managed and advised by entities affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners Growth, the US private equity firm said in a statement.

Established in 1994, Varmora is a founder-led company and leading and fast-growing tile and bathware brand in India.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Varmora aims to leverage the strength of the partnership with Carlyle to enhance its investments in brand building and digital marketing, deepen its distribution network, and augment product innovation and capacity, the press release said.

Carlyle believes a positive outlook for the residential sector, along with rising per capita income in India and product premiumization, provide significant growth opportunities for a branded building materials consumer player such as Varmora, it said.

“We are very impressed by the brand salience and consumer pull that Varmora has created. We believe this is driven by a differentiated product portfolio, strong pan-India distribution network and an exceptional management team. We are excited to partner with Bhavesh Varmora, the Varmora brothers and their entrepreneurial team to help accelerate the next phase of the company’s growth journey as a leading consumer-oriented business. We also view Varmora as a platform for consolidation in the fast-growing building materials space,” said Amit Jain, Managing Director and Co-Head, Carlyle India Advisors.

The company’s comprehensive product portfolio includes premium tiles, faucets and sanitaryware, and its products are sold through a national distribution network that includes over 200 exclusive brand outlets in India and globally.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Carlyle. Their business-building approach, trusted partnership mindset and deep global expertise in this space made them our preferred partner in this exclusive transaction. We are very excited and confident about the growth opportunity that lies ahead for Varmora and are looking forward to leveraging Carlyle’s global consumer expertise for executing our value creation initiatives,” said Bhavesh Varmora, Chairman, Varmora Granito.

Investment bank Steer Advisors served as transaction advisor to Varmora. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 FY23, subject to customary closing conditions, the statement added.

Carlyle’s global private equity funds have well-established experience investing in the consumer and retail sectors, with investments in Grand Foods China (McDonald’s China franchisee), Delhivery Ltd and Golden Goose, among others. Globally, Carlyle has invested approximately $25 billion of equity in over 135 deals in the consumer, media and retail sector, as of March 31, 2022.