Biyani to acquire Spykar for 100cr

Mumbai/Bangalore: Kishore Biyani's Future Lifestyle Fashion is buying a 75% stake in the homegrown denim company Spykar Lifestyle for around Rs 100 crore in an attempt to shore up its fashion and lifestyle play. 

    Private equity investors behind Spykar – one of the few indigenous denim brands to attain national scale – had been looking to exit the company for the last two years. TOI had first reported in February last year that Kishore Biyani was afrontrunner to snap up the jeanswear brand. 
    Other suitors for Spykar included private equity players like India Value Fund and Everstone Capital, which dropped out of the race sometime ago. 
    Spykar joins Future's current denim portfolio of Jealous 21 and Bare. Biyani has 35 fashion brands with a combined turnover of more than Rs 7,000 crore at the group level. 
    Avigo, an India-focused private equity firm, and its co-investor Metmin Holdings together own 60% stake in Spykar, while the rest is held by the promoter Prasad Pabrekar. Biyani is also pumping in additional capital into the company which will dilute the promoter shareholding, people familiar with the matter said. 
    When contacted by TOI, Biyani and Avigo Capital offered no comments on the development. 
    Mumbai-based Spykar was founded two decades ago and has a strong distribution presence across 1,000 multi-brand stores besides its 170 standalone outlets. 
    Biyani is making a renewed push in fashion retail after divesting department store chain Pantaloons as part of a debt revamp strategy. He plans to make Spykar a Rs 400-crore brand in the next three to four years from Rs 180 crore currently. 
    Future Lifestyle has made a slew of investments ranging from online startups to taking operational control in well entrenched homegrown brands. It recently took management and operational control of Mother Earth, increasing its stake in the Bangalore-based company to 65%. 
    With this, Mother Earth will be given the marketing and ramp up muscle to take on its Delhi-based rival Fabindia. 
    Biyani will also be taking operational control of Delhi based Giovani – a suits and jackets and women's wear brand – that has over 10 operational stores. This gives Future Lifestyle a strong foothold in to the northern markets where Giovani has a strong client base and distribution network. 
    Future Lifestyle has also invested in online fashion accessory startup Peperone and designer label Mineral by Priyadarshini Rao.