India-focused fund manager Motilal Oswal Alternates (MO Alts) has invested Rs 225 crore ($28 million) for a significant minority stake in traditional, family-owned shoe-manufacturing company Asian Footwear as the latter looks to expand its business across the country.
The Delhi-based company was earlier in talks with India’s home-grown private equity player Multiples Asset Management (Multiples PE) for the fundraising.
DealStreetAsia was the first to report that the company is in the market looking to raise capital.
“India’s branded sports and footwear market is witnessing rapid growth, driven by increased health and fitness awareness, higher spending on lifestyle products, shift from unbranded to branded plays, and growing preferences for casual, multi-utility shoes,” said MO Alts director and head of consumer sector Vijay Dhanuka.
Asian Footwear, which was established in 1994, has not raised capital from any institutional investor so far. Its external fundraising efforts have come about after its founder Rajinder Jindal’s son Aayush, an IIT Delhi alumni, joined the business in 2017.
Asian Footwear currently offers more than 500 active styles of shoes priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500. The firm plans to use the corpus to ramp up its brand, distribution, headcount and supply chain infrastructure.
In 2020, after the COVID-19 crisis hit India, Asian Footwear announced the launch of its reusable protective face masks under the Asian HyperProtect A95 collection.
Over the past 3-4 years, the company has been taking quite a few initiatives to enhance its brand awareness. In 2018, it roped in Indian cricket player Virender Sehwag as the face of the company to strike a chord with consumers.
MO Alts recently made headlines when it hit the final close of its fourth private equity (PE) fund at Rs 4,500 crore ($550.3 million) to ramp up its investments in mid-market companies across India.
The vehicle – India Business Excellence Fund IV – plans to tap sectors such as consumer, financial services, life sciences and manufacturing, besides a slew of new-age tech-enabled businesses, its MD and CEO Vishal Tulsyan said in an interview with DealStreetAsia.