TVS Shriram Growth Fund I has picked up close to 25% stake in Landmark Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tata group company, Trent Ltd, for Rs 65 crore.

Landmark, a book and music retail chain, operates over 20 stores (mostly large format stores) across the country. In 2008-09, its turnover was Rs 196 crore.

Trent will sell 14.03 lakh shares to TVS Shriram for Rs 50 crore and will use the funds to subscribe to fresh shares in Landmark. In addition, TVS Shriram will be directly issued 4.21 lakh shares for Rs 15 crore.

Terming this a “marquee investment”, Mr Gopal Srinivasan, Founder and Chairman of TVS Capital Funds Ltd, which manages the fund, told Business Line that the private equity financer would shortly announce its next stake-take, which would then “take the total investments to 25% of the investible funds”.

Landmark started in Chennai in 1987 as a book store and it now operates stores across multiple formats, including ‘Big-Box’ stores in metros, airport and hotel stores.

Mr Gopal Srinivasan said the deal was signed “this afternoon”. Ms Hemu Ramaiah, who founded Landmark and ran it till it was sold to the Tatas in 2005, advised TVS Capital through the deal.

Mr Jai Subramaniam, Director, Shop 4 Solutions, a venture partner in TVS Capital Funds and former director of Landmark, says the funds will help Landmark scale up.

The chain has identified and tied up about ten properties in metros for large format stores of 20,000-40,000 sq ft.

While the focus will be on books and music, the chain has also expanded portfolio to include gaming and tech products.

Mr Suresh Raju, Executive Director of the fund, noted that Landmark has been “consistently profitable” except in last year which was a difficult one. The chain also expanded from around five stores to 20 in the past three years.

Taken from Business Line