NRI tycoon Apurv Bagri buys Spykar Denim

Non-resident Indian businessman Apurv Bagri has acquired a controlling stake in leading Indian denim maker Spykar Lifestyle. According to people in the know, Bagri's Metmin Investment Holdings has bought a 30 per cent stake from private equity firm Avigo Capital, which owns a majority stake in Spykar.

Metmin, also an investor in Avigo Capital, already jointly holds a 30 per cent stake in Spykar Lifestyle. The company was valued at Rs 200-220 crore.

Fifty-four-year-old Bagri, son of former London Metal Exchange chairman Lord Raj Kumar Bagri, is the president and chief executive officer of London-based Metdist Group of Companies, which is into metal trading business. Raj Kumar Bagri had reportedly earned $200 million by selling a 9.4 per cent stake in the London exchange, owned by metal brokerage Metdistin, in 2012 to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. He was also in news after he sold his home in north London's Regent's Park for £120 million in 2011.

Avigo, which had invested about Rs 25 crore for a minority stake in Spykar in 2007, had brought in its investor Metmin and acquired 30 per cent for about Rs 30 crore in 2011. At present, Spykar founder Prasad Pabrekar holds the remaining 40 per cent in the company. It is not clear whether Pabrekar has sold his stake to Bagri. Lincoln International advised Avigo in this deal.

For the past few years, Avigo had been in talks with many strategic players, including private equity investors, to sell its stake in Spykar.