According to sources in the know, discussions with Avigo Partners, a private equity investor that holds a 60 per cent stake in Spykar, are in advanced stages.
Spykar founder Prasad Pabrekar holds the remaining 40 per cent in the company.
For the past few years, Avigo has been in talks with many strategic players, including private equity investors, to sell its stake in Spykar.
According to sources, it has held discussions with Kishore Biyani-owned Future Lifestyle, Aditya Birla Group, India Value Fund Advisors, Everstone Capital and the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group Spencer’s Retail, among others.
These talks have not yet gone forward due to valuation issues.
Avigo is looking at an enterprise value of Rs 280-300 crore (Rs 2.8 billion-3 billion) for Spykar.
“Avigo has yet to bring down valuation, as it is aware finding an established apparel brand target in India is not an easy task for strategic buyers,” said one of the apparel makers in discussions with Avigo.
Avigo, which had invested about Rs 25 crore for a minority stake in Spykar in 2007, had in 2011 brought in its global investor, Metmin Investments, and acquired about 30 per cent for about Rs 30 crore.
Metmin is owned by Raj Bagri, a non-resident Indian tycoon, earlier the chairman of the London Metal Exchange.
The products of Spykar, established in 1992, are sold through 1,000 multi-brand and 200
Anti-retail-FDI Mamata cool with foreign brands
Fastest-growing brands in the world
Select commodities beat Sensex, Nifty in 2013