Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) on Sunday announced the acquisition of 89% equity stake for an estimated Rs 950 crore in Purple Panda Fashions Private Limited, which owns and operates women-focussed innerwear and lounge wear brand Clovia.
The investment is a combination of secondary stake purchase and primary investment. The founding team and management will own the balance stake in the company, RRVL said in a statement.
This marks yet another move by RRVL to gain a stronger foothold in the country’s organized fashion market after it invested in a string of homegrown labels including Abraham & Thakore and Anamika Khanna.
“Reliance has always been at the forefront of enhancing choices and offering best value proposition to consumers. We are pleased to add style, quality and design-led intimate wear brand ‘Clovia’ to our portfolio,” said Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited.
Clovia was launched in 2013 by Pankaj Vermani, Neha Kant and Suman Choudhary—it operates as a bridge-to-premium direct-to-consumer innerwear and lounge wear brand. Clovia’s offerings include over 3,500 product styles. Clovia operates through an in-house design team while following an asset-light outsourced production model.
Clovia’s founder and CEO Pankaj Vermani said the brand will benefit from Reliance's scale and retail expertise.
With this acquisition, RRVL will further strengthen its portfolio in the innerwear segment, having already acquired Zivame and Amante brands, it added. India’s inner wear market sees the participation of both homegrown mass market players such as Rupa and Dixcy apart from more upmarket brands such as Enamor and Marks & Spencer. Rival Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) sells branded innerwear under the Van Heusen brand.
BDA Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Clovia, while Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal counsel and Deloitte, Haskins & Sells LLP provided due diligence services for the transaction.
RRVL—is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group. RRVL reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 157,629 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021.
In January, Mint reported that RIL has spent over Rs7,600 crore over the past nine months of this fiscal towards investing in and acquiring assets to strengthen its retail business.
In the same month, Reliance also invested $240 million (around Rs 1800 crore) in hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo.