Aditya Birla PE buys minority stake in Creative Lifestyles

Aditya Birla Private Equity has acquired a minority stake in Creative Lifestyles, the flagship company of the Mumbai-based Creative Garments group, which owns women's apparel brands such as 109F, Fusion Beats and O2xygen.

Aditya Birla Private Equity made the investment through its Sunrise Fund, Birendra Agarwal, chairman of Creative Lifestyle, said, adding that the acquisition valued the company at Rs300 crore.

The Sunrise Fund, a sort of venture capital fund, focuses on providing growth capital to proven business concepts in sunrise sectors with specific themes, including lifestyle, lifeskills and education, lifecare and innovative technologies.

Creative Lifestyle was founded in 2006 and Birendra Agarwal along with industry veteran Rahul Mehta to foray into women's branded apparel.

Birendra Agarwal, chairman at Creative Lifestyle, stated, "We believe our partnership with Aditya Birla Private Equity will help in taking the company to the next level on the back of an impressive growth we have already achieved since inception in 2006.

"We will benefit from the right impetus, drive and experience and we are looking forward to working closely with the Aditya Birla team to fully exploit our potential." The brand 109F, launched in 2006, which caters to casual western wear, has presence in over 366 retail outlets, including 35EBOs and 331 large format stores.''

D Muthukumaran, CEO of Aditya Birla Private Equity, said, "We are excited to be part of the growth story at Creative Lifestyle. In the last 9 years, the Creative team has built up a strong presence in women's branded apparel segment, which we believe has high potential for exponential growth in the coming years."

Aditya Birla group has been expanding its footprints in fashion retail following its decision to merge fashion retail business under Madura Fashions and Madura Lifestyle with Pantaloons Fashion and Retail to create the country's largest branded apparel player, valued at Rs12,000 crore.