Dua Associates advised leading designer brand Ritu Kumar as Reliance Retail acquires majority stake in Ritu Kumar Company
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) acquired a majority stake in fashion designer Ritu Kumar’s Ritika Pvt. Ltd. Dua Associates advised leading designer Ritu Kumar & her firm Ritika Private Limited for the equity acquisition transaction between Ritika Private Limited and Reliance Retail
The transaction was led by Partners Sita Khosla and Nirvaan Gupta who acted as legal advisors and counsel to Ritika Private Limited – the firm owned by one of India’s oldest and most highly regarded fashion designers, Ritu Kumar, and the Promoters (namely, their family), in the 52% equity acquisition by Reliance Retail.
RRVL makes strong moves while taking over four fashion brands in a short span. RRVL acquires Everstone’s 35% stake in Ritu Kumar’s company.
Reliance Retail Ventures Limited was advised by Khaitan & Co and Everstone Capital was advised by Starlaw.
This deal is significant of India’s oldest design house impeccable crafting of the company’s design and fashion legal story.
About Dua Associates : Dua Associates is a leading law firm in India with a thirty five year old track record of delivering critical legal solutions for its clients including Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, governments and SMEs. The Firm is widely recognized for the depth of experienced legal talent and the significant experience of its 250+ professionals including 78 partners.
In January, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired 51% in Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s fashion house for about ₹398 crore, followed by a 33.5% stake in Tarun Tahiliani’s couture label in February for ₹67 crore.
In a July 2019 interview, Amrish Kumar, director at the fashion house and designer Ritu Kumar’s son, said that the company, one of India’s oldest designers, was looking to raise money and that Everstone was looking for an exit.
Over the years, the legacy couturier, Ritu Kumar, 76, who started the company in 1969, has set up several new brands across categories. Besides the flagship label Ritu Kumar—which sells daily and semi-formal ethnic wear—it launched Ri. Ritu Kumar, a premium bridal and formal wear in 2018. ‘Label by Ritu Kumar’, a designer brand for young urban India, was launched in 2002. An everyday clothing brand Aarké was launched in March this year. With its four fashion labels, the company has about 151 points of sales in India and abroad.