27 October 2022, Mumbai:
Sai Silks Kalamandir plans to move away from a purely own-outlets model to franchising.
The sari retailer aims at adding 50 per cent more showrooms with the IPO money. Sai Silks has 50 company-owned stores and plans to add 25 more in the next 24 months. And most of those stores will be in the franchise model. The expansion will be funded by the money coming in from the IPO, which will have 50 per cent of the issue as an offer for sale by the promoter family. This IPO makes the company to be the first sari brand to go public.
The new stores for the premium sari brands VaraMahalaxmi and Mandir will continue to be owned by the company itself. Most of the new stores will be for Kalamandir and KLM Fashion Mall, which are focused on the middle class, and the expansion focus will be Tamil Nadu. Another area of expansion will be lingerie, by bringing in premium domestic brands as well as international brands. It already hawks mid-range domestic lingerie brands at its KLM Malls.
The IPO proceeds will be used for setting up these 25 new stores and two warehouses, repaying term loans of Rs 60 crores and general corporate purposes, including working capital.
