Essel Propack has appointed Sudhanshu Vats as chief executive officer and managing director, effective 16 April 2020. The board has further appointed Vats as additional director of the company. He has also been designated as key managerial personnel pursuant to the Companies Act 2013.

Vats has more than 28 years of industry experience across FMCG and media sectors.

Prior to joining Essel Propack, Vats spent eight years as managing director and group CEO of Viacom18. During his tenure, he scaled the business from six to over 54 television channels across more than 80 countries, added three more lines of business and grew revenue by over 4x.

Before Viacom18, Vats spent more than 20 years at Unilever in various sales and marketing and general management roles. He left Unilever as the head of Unilever’s laundry business in South Asia and head of the Radiant brand globally. He made Radiant the fastest growing laundry brand in the world with over Euro 500 mm turnover. During his tenure at Unilever, Vats shaped household brands like Lipton, Vim, Wheel, Surf, Rin, Lifebuoy and Lux.

Meanwhile, media reports, Essel Propack is being bought by Blackstone for $310 million. The latter will be buying 51% of the promoter stake at the rate of Rs 134 for a share and as per media agencies will be launching an open offer for an extra 26%.

Essel Propack is a manufacturer of laminated plastic tubes and packaging used in oral care products, food and pharmaceuticals. The company was till now being run by Subhash Chandra’s brother Ashok Goel. Some of Essel Propack’s big customers in India include Dabur, Godrej, Emami, Vicco, Marico and Patanjali.