Landmark IPO in 2 years
Veda Corporate Advisers, a boutique investment banking firm, was the sole advisor the deal.
"We are looking at a fairly aggressive and profitable growth. While internal accruals will take care of the need for funds for the current expansion, infusion of capital in future will be based on the board's decision", Mr Subramaniam said.
Landmark will come out with an IPO in the two years to fund its future expansion. This will see the chain set up large format stores in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi, it is reliably learnt.
The acquisition by Trent brings the curtains down on this over one-year exercise. Funds were a constraint to the growth of this retail chain. A move to raise private equity from Kotak Ventures was abandoned close to finalisation about three months back. The promoters then decided to go for a strategic partner. It attracted the attention of several big players, including Lifestyle, Reliance and Pantaloon, before being clinched by Trent.
"There were a lot of synergies between Trent and Landmark, with both the chains brandishing similar customer profiles. Besides, Trent was also looking at expanding only to metros and first class cities, which suited well with Landmark's planned expansion. What clinched the deal finally was the ease of the structure, where a major stake holder was totally exiting the scene", sources privy to the development said.