Private Equity News & Analysis

Gresham exits Australian diaper business

The Australian private equity firm has sold Australian Pacific Paper Products three years after it paid A$75m to purchase the company from CHAMP Private Equity. The diaper maker has been sold to Tokyo-listed Unicharm for approximately A$170m.

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Gresham Private Equity, the private equity arm of Gresham Investment House, has sold Australian Pacific Paper Products, a Melbourne-based diaper company, to Unicharm, a Tokyo-listed paper products business for between A$160 million (€82 million; $112 million) and A$170 million, a spokesman confirmed.

Diapers: exit delivered

Gresham bought Australian Pacific Paper Products for A$75 million from Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners, a Sydney-based private equity firm, in June 2005, in order to restructure the company’s business and product range. The company's diaper brands for babies include BabyLove, Cosifits and Lullaby, while it makes Merit and vlesi brands for adults.

Earlier this April, Gresham bought five logistics and transportation businesses in Australia with an enterprise value of A$200 million ($185 million; €117 million) including A$130 million of debt.

The private equity firm typically invests in businesses with enterprise values between $100 million and $500 million.

Gresham Private Equity Fund II’s current investments includes Witchery, an Australian fashion label; GEON, a Visual Communications Business with operations in Australia and New Zealand; Barminco, an Australian underground mining contractor and Noel Leeming, a computer retail store chain in New Zealand.

Gresham could not be reached for comment.