South- and Southeast Asia-focused private equity firm Creador has invested about Rs 135 crore ($21.7 million) for a minority stake in publicly-listed PC Jeweller Limited through secondary market share purchases, according to a press release.
Although the quantum of stake purchased was not disclosed, bulk of the deal involved a large transaction in the open market worth Rs 109 crore. If that is taken as a benchmark, the PE firm has picked around 3 per cent stake in the public listed firm.
Since the investment is through a secondary transaction, PC Jeweller would not get any money out of it.
The investment, which was routed through Creador II LLC's affiliate Idria Limited, is the PE firm's sixth deal in India.
Its other Indian portfolio firms include Murugappa Group's NBFC Cholamandalam Investment & Finance, tile maker Somany Ceramics, Ashiana Housing, Repco Home Finance and pipes maker Vectus Industries. Out of these it has exited Repco.
“As the organised share in jewellery retail increases, PC Jeweller is bound to benefit from this trend and we are delighted to have this opportunity to partner with Balram and his team in shaping its next phase of growth,” Anand Narayan, senior managing director of Creador Advisors India, said.
Founded by PC Garg, PC Jeweller is into manufacturing, retailing, and exporting gold, diamond and silver jewellery. The company has a pan-India jewellery retail chain with a focus on diamond and gold jewellery. It went public a little over two years ago.
PC Jeweller currently has more than 50 showrooms across 42 cities in 17 states and the current investment would be utilised to boost the company’s expansion plans as it seeks to add 20 showrooms annually over the next five years.
“We welcome Creador as a shareholder and value their inputs for faster growth,” Balram Garg, managing director of PC Jeweller, said.
Other deals in the space include Warburg Pincus making a big bet on Kalyan Jewellers and SAIF Partners investing in Senco Gold.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
