Mumbai: Blackstone Group has exited packaging company EPL Ltd after selling its entire 26.38% holding for ₹2,032.33 crore through an open-market transaction.
The US investment firm’s affiliate, Epsilon Bidco Pte Ltd, sold 8,44,79,781 shares on the NSE at an average price of ₹240.57 apiece, bulk deal data showed.
Epsilon Bidco was EPL’s promoter and held the same 26.38% stake at the end of the June quarter. EPL was formerly known as Essel Propack.
Quant Mutual Fund leads buying
Domestic mutual funds, insurers, asset managers and overseas institutions bought shares in the transaction.
Identified purchases covered 3,37,05,174 shares, representing 10.52% of EPL’s equity. Details of buyers for the remaining shares were unavailable on the exchange.
Quant Mutual Fund emerged as the largest identified buyer, acquiring more than 1.43 crore shares, or 4.48%, in two tranches.
The purchases were made at ₹240.10 to ₹240.93 per share and were valued at ₹345.07 crore. Quant’s holding in EPL consequently increased to 6.95% from 2.47%.
Institutional investors acquire shares
Funds managed by ICICI Prudential, Edelweiss, Bandhan and 360 One Group, along with Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, collectively purchased more than 1.3 crore shares.
Their combined acquisition represented a 4.07% stake and was valued at ₹313.34 crore.
Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought shares worth ₹85 crore, while Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acquired shares valued at ₹66 crore.
EPL shares dropped 8.47% to close at ₹239.90 on the NSE following the block transaction.
Merger with Indovida planned
The stake sale comes as EPL pursues its proposed merger with rigid PET packaging platform Indovida India, announced in March.
The combination is expected to create an entity generating $1 billion in revenue and carrying a combined valuation of $2 billion.
Under the proposed structure, Indorama Ventures will become the promoter with a 51.8% holding, while Blackstone is slated to own 16.6% of the merged business.
Indorama Ventures had acquired a 24.9% stake in EPL in May 2025.
