Tommy eyes 51% in Indian Business

Tommy Hilfiger, controlled by buyout private equity Apax Partners, is looking at direct ownership of its India operations by bringing in the maximum permissible 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) allowed in single brand retail.

Tommy is looking for direct ownership, buying out perpetual India rights, currently with the Murjani Group.

The Murjanis invested in young Tommy Hilfiger when the American designer introduced his first signature collection back in 1985.

The Murjanis operate Tommy Hilfiger’s core fashion apparel business through an equal joint venture with Arvind Mills, which has 23 outlets across the country at present. The Murjanis have inked similar licensing deals with other Indian corporates like Titan Industries for watches and Welspun for home furnishings. The Murjanis, through their Brand Marketing India Pvt. Ltd. are pumping investment to develop other international fashion brands like Gucci, Jimmy Choo and French Connection. BMI recently raised $10 million through a private placement with VC fund Matrix Partners, for the cash burning realestate intensive business.

Matrix Partners India invests Rs. 20 crores in digital signage company vJive

Matrix Partners India has invested Rs. 20 crores in vJive, an out-of-home media and digital signage network owned by Digital Music India (DMI) Pvt. Ltd. has received a VC funding of Rs. 20 crores. This is the first of the tranches of an overall Rs 100 crores for the company. Matrix’s Avnish Bajaj has joined the board of directors of DMI.

This is Matrix’s fourth investment in the year. It had earlier invested $7 million in Seventymm.com, an online DVD rental company, $5.5 mn in Moods Hospitality, the owners of food chain Yo! China Restaurants, and an undisclosed sum in a stealth mode start-up Four Interactive.

Matrix Partners Invests In Stealth Start-up Four Interactive

Matrix Partners is making investments and news by the day. After investing $7 mn in Seventymm.com, an online DVD rental company and $5.5 mn in Moods Hospitality, owner of the Yo! China brand of Chinese food outlets, the $ 150 mn cross-sector fund has bought an undisclosed stake in Bangalore-based stealth mode start-up Four Interactive. As per the company website, Four Interactive is “building easy to use services which lie at the intersection of mobile, content and web”. Four Interactive has been founded by ex-Microsoft execs Kiran Konduri and Shriram Adukoorie. Kiran Konduri was the founder of Zephyr Software, later acquired by Infospace. Shriram Adukoorie is the former country head for MSN India and South Asia.