Genesis Colors gets 1.1 Bn investment, plans IPO

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New Delhi: Genesis Colors, the holding company of several designer brands including Satya Paul and lingerie brand Bwitch, will go for a public issue in the next three years, the company said in a statement Friday. Genesis, which received an investment of 1.10 billion from Sequoia Capital Fund, Mayfield Fund and Silicon Valley Bank in return for minority stake, says it will take the equity route once it has reaches a "critical mass". The company will use the investment to expand the Satya Paul retail operations at home and abroad, with the first international store opening in Singapore next month. By 2010, there will be 50 stand-alone Satya Paul stores, compared to the 27 now, Genesis joint managing director Sanjay Kapoor said. "We will set up a state-of-the-art digital printing unit to service our requirement. We also plan an IPO (initial public offering) in the next three years, once we have built critical mass," he said. The money will also be used for investments in technology - enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions and a customer relationship management (CRM) programme, the statement said. Kapoor said plans include promoting 'Genesis Luxury', which has been set up to market and distribute European luxury brands - Canali, Kenzo, Paul Smith, Just Cavalli and Aigner - in India. The funds will also be used for marketing the lingerie label Bwitch and creating an extensive retail and distribution network for it. The company, which also promotes brand such as Deepika Gehani, Samsaara and Shobhaa De, plans to spend about 250 million on building, marketing and distribution the Bwitch brand.
Source: IANS