Value-fashion retailer V-Mart Retail Ltd on Monday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire online fashion marketplace LimeRoad. The company said this will help strengthen its omni-channel strategy and leverage on synergies to deliver emerging fashion trends to digital-first shoppers.

As per the regulatory filings, V-Mart said it will pay lump-sum cash consideration of ₹31.12 crore subject to mutually-agreed adjustments by both parties. "As part of acquisition of LimeRoad business, the company is also acquiring assets worth approximately ₹14.61 crore and assuming current liabilities of ₹36.26 crore," it added. The completion of the transaction is subject to necessary approvals and closing conditions.

"Given the underlying strong unit economics post-marketing, V-Mart plans to invest a total of ₹150 crore to enable LimeRoad to scale and achieve sustained profitability," the company said in a statement.

This is the second acquistion by V-Mart in recent times, as it had acquired Unlimited store brand from Arvind Fashions.

Lalit Agarwal, Managing Director, V-Mart Retail Ltd, said, “V-Mart is one of the strongest players in the value-retail segment fulfilling fashion needs of masses across India. With this acquisition, we aim to not only acquire digital-first millennials, but build our omni-channel expertise. V-Mart will operate LimeRoad as an independent business unit, retaining its tech start-up culture.”

Suchi Mukherjee, Founder of LimeRoad, will join V-Mart’s leadership team as CEO of LimeRoad and will lead the company's omni-channel business. Ankush Mehra, Co-founder of LimeRoad, continues as COO.

The statement added that LimeRoad offers freshest unbranded styles and unique content to its 1.7-crore value shoppers. Net revenues of LimeRoad in FY22 stood at ₹69.31 crore, ₹79.64 crore in FY21 and ₹179.95 crore in FY20, as per regulatory filings.

V-Mart currently operates a network of about 410 stores with strong penetration in tier-2, -3 and -4 cities. “V-Mart and LimeRoad have the potential to become India’s fastest-growing omni-channel value-fashion retail platform,” the company added.

Mukherjee of LimeRoad said the value customer has a high bar of prices meets style-aspiration meets quality. “This partnership helps us fundamentally solve the quality conundrum at value prices online, and accelerate our vision of making the freshest of fashion accessible to our core customer through a uniquely rich online-offline experience. This is a large market, expected to grow at 39 per cent CAGR over the next 5 years.”

Metta Capital acted as an exclusive financial advisor and Saraf and Partners acted as legal advisor to V-Mart for this transaction.

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