KKR, a global investment firm, and LEAP India (LEAP), a leading pallet pooling platform in India, announced the signing of definitive agreements under which funds managed by KKR will acquire a majority stake in the Company.
Founded in 2013 by Sunu Mathew, LEAP is a leading pallet pooling platform in India, providing a wide range of innovative and high-quality supply chain solutions, including equipment pooling, returnable packaging, inventory management and movement, transportation, and repair and maintenance, to a diversified and large customer base across e-commerce, consumer durables, beverages, fast-moving consumer goods and automotive. Today, the Company operates a network of 21 warehouses and more than 3,500 customer locations, and manages more than 6 million total assets, including pallets and containers, across India for its customers.
Ami Momaya, Director, Infrastructure at KKR, said, “We are pleased to invest in LEAP, a standout leader in India’s pallet pooling industry that will play an important role in driving the country’s continued modernization and growth. LEAP is supporting this shift by providing the critical assets needed for the manufacturing, storage, and movement of goods in supply chains and in so doing also helps companies to be better equipped to improve the environmental impact of their operations. The Company has grown rapidly since its founding under the leadership of a talented management team, and we look forward to collaborating closely and leveraging our deep infrastructure experience, operational expertise and global networks to help LEAP achieve its next stage of transformation.”
Sunu Mathew, Founder and Managing Director at LEAP India, said, “From Day One, LEAP’s mission has been to provide quality supply chain solutions to support our clients’ needs and contribute to India’s modernization. We are proud of our growth and grateful for the support received from our strategic partners and investors, including our first investor Mayfield, that have helped us to scale to where we are today. Going forward, we look to tap into KKR’s global expertise to accelerate our growth and deliver impactful solutions to our clients.”
KKR is making this investment as part of its Asia infrastructure strategy. The acquisition of LEAP marks KKR’s latest infrastructure investment in India. Past transactions in the sector by KKR have included Serentica Renewables, a decarbonization platform that seeks to provide complex clean energy solutions for energy-intensive, hard-to-abate industries; Hero Future Energies, a leading independent power producer and the renewable energy arm of the Hero Group; Highways Infrastructure Trust, a roads infrastructure investment trust (InvIT); Virescent Infrastructure, a renewable energy platform in India; and IndiGrid, a leading infrastructure InvIT, according to the statement.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Transaction Square acted as LEAP’s advisors and Anagram Partners acted as legal advisor to LEAP. EY and KPMG acted as KKR’s advisors and AZB & Partners and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett acted as legal advisors to KKR.
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