Aston Luxury Group Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of jewellery retailer Gitanjali Gems Ltd, has acquired 100 per cent stake in Hong Kong-based Crown Aim Ltd, for an undisclosed amount.
Crown Aim is a distributor of jewellery to China, Japan, the USA, the Middle East and Europe. Additionally, it has a jewellery manufacturing unit in China and plans to set up jewellery retailing in that country.
It also owns a 100 per cent subsidiary called Alfred Terry Holding Ltd and a step-down subsidiary called Alfred Terry Ltd, located in London, for jewellery distribution in the UK. Alfred Terry Ltd, a 45-year-old company, has a wide distribution networks catering to chain stores and standalones in the UK. The network covers nearly 2000 jewellery shops.
Shares of Gitanjali Gems closed at Rs 340.20 per unit on the BSE, up 0.61 per cent from the previous close.
Incorporated in 1966, Surat-based Gitanjali Group is one of the largest branded jewellery companies in India with interests in diamond jewellery, retail and lifestyle businesses. The company operates across the USA, the UK, Belgium, Italy and the Middle East, as well as in Thailand, South-east Asia China and Japan. The bouquet of brands owned by the group in Italy includes Stefan Hafner, iO Si, Porrati, Novelle Bague and Valente. The Gitanjali Group also owns speciality retail chain in the USA under the brands of Samuels and Rogers.
In February this year, Gitanjali paid an undisclosed sum and took over DIT, the Italian unit of Dubai jewellery maker Damas International that owns brands like Stefan Hafner, IO Si, Roberta Porrati and Nouvelle Bague.
The latest acquisition comes just about a year after it had acquired the remaining 50 per cent stake in its Indian joint venture Morellato India Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Incidentally, Morellato India was a 50:50 JV between Gitanjali Gems and Morellato & Sector Group of Italy, an Italian jeweller and watch-maker, besides being a licensee for fashion groups. It also manufactures jewellery, watches and accessories under its own brand. Morellato India holds marketing, promotion, sales and distribution rights of Morellato & Sector (non-Swiss-made collection), Roberto Cavalli, Just Cavalli and Miss Sixty watches in India.
In December 2009, the company, through its subsidiary Gitanjali Lifestyle Ltd, also acquired majority stake in Salasar Retail Ltd, a Delhi-based retailer with 10 stores in northern India. Earlier, the firm had snapped Alliance Jewellers Pvt Ltd, a Lebanon-based company, through its subsidiary Brightest Circle Jewellery Pvt Ltd, besides acquiring 70 per cent stake in an Indian mobile retail store MobileNXT.
