Flipkart Buys Minority Stake In Arvind Youth

On Thursday, e-commerce giant Flipkart announced an investment of Rs 260 crore for a minority stake in Arvind Fashions' recently-formed subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands which owns the Flying Machine brand.

The Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions will work collaboratively through the investment to identify opportunities and synergies to innovate and develop products with strong value propositions at attractive price points.

"Through this investment, we look forward to partnering with the team at Arvind Youth Brands to continue to grow the market for its portfolio of products and enhance the strong brand equity that has been built over the last few decades," said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart Group in a statement.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions precedent. Metta Capital Advisors acted as the financial advisors to Arvind Fashions for the transaction.

Arvind Fashions is a lifestyle powerhouse with a strong portfolio of fashion brands in casual wear. It has a portfolio of renowned international and indigenous brands like US Polo Assn., Arrow, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Flying Machine, Aeropostale, The Children's Place and Ed Hardy.

It owns and runs the value fashion retail chain Unlimited. It also a leading beauty retailer in India in partnership with Sephora.

On the other hand, the Flipkart Group has a registered customer base of over 200 million, offering over 150 million products across 80-plus categories.