Listed value retail chain V-Mart Retail Ltd has agreed to acquire the Unlimited retail chain from Multiples PE-backed Arvind Fashions Ltd which owns the Flying Machine brand of denim apparel.
Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arvind Fashions, will be selling fixed assets, lease deposits, identified inventory and other current assets of 74 retail stores and a warehouse to V-Mart at book value, as per a stock market disclosure.
The transaction size is estimated to be nearly Rs 150 crore ($20 million). In addition, certain payments will hinge on milestones.
Arvind Fashions said it had decided to exit the business to sharpen its focus.
The Multiples PE-backed firm was recently reported to be looking to sell two of its denim brands -- Newport and Ruf & Tuf -- to Reliance Retail.
In July last year, Walmart-owned online retailer Flipkart agreed to acquire a minority stake in Arvind Youth Brands Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Arvind Fashions, for Rs 260 crore.
Arvind Fashions had then said the company and its unit Arvind Lifestyle Brands are selling the wholesale and retail trading businesses under the Flying Machine brand to Arvind Youth Brands.
Arvind Fashions had raised private equity funding from Renuka Ramnath-led Multiples PE in 2016. The following year, Arvind Ltd decided to demerge its branded apparel business under Arvind Fashions and the engineering business under Anup Engineering and list the two entities separately on the stock exchanges.
Besides Flying Machine, Arvind Fashions has several licensed product brands such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, US Polo Assn, Ed Hardy, Hanes, Arrow, Gant and Nautica.
The company bolstered its couture segment by striking two acquisitions early this year.
V-Mart
The retail chain, which primarily targets Tier II and Tier III cities, runs over 200 stores in 171 cities across 17 states. Nearly 80% of these are fashion-specific and the rest are composite stores.
The company offers clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children in stores having an average size of 8,000 square feet.
V-Mart, which went public(https://www.vccircle.com/av-birla-group-backed-v-marts-ipo-fully-subscribed/) in 2013, was started in 2002 by Delhi-based Lalit Agarwal, a cousin of RC Agarwal who is chairman of Vishal Retail (Now V2 Retail).
