Tata-owned Titan Company Ltd on Monday announced acquisition of 67% stake in Dubai-based luxury jewellery retailer Damas LLC (UAE) for $283.2 million (around Rs 2435.5 crore) in an all-cash deal to expand its presence in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including the world’s fifth largest gold market, United Arab Emirates.
The acquisition will be undertaken by Titan’s wholly owned subsidiary, Titan Holdings International FZCO, as per its stock exchange filing. Titan said the purpose is to acquire the entire jewellery business including the brand Damas.
ET first broke the story on February 18, where it had indicated that the cost of acquisition will be around Rs 2,500 crore. Both the companies were negotiating on the valuation for quite some time. An industry executive said that talks had once failed earlier over valuation as Mannai Corporation had asked for Rs 3,000 crore. Fresh talks began again at the end of 2024.
Damas LLC is the holding company for the entire jewellery business of Qatar-based Mannai Corporation QPSC. The company operates 146 stores across the six GCC countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain with the market size currently valued at $14.11 billion and projected to reach $24.04 billion by 2033.
Titan said the deal will be financed through a combination of debt, cash balances and internal accruals. The company will also have the right to acquire the remaining 33% stake in Damas after December 31, 2029, subject to conditions agreed upon. Titan said the proposed acquisition will be completed on or before 31st January, 2026 subject to antitrust and other local approvals.
C.K. Venkataraman, managing director of Titan, said in a press release that with the Damas acquisition, Titan is stepping out from its diaspora focus into other nationalities and ethnicities. He said the company’s ambitions for a global jewellery play is moving to the next stage after a presence in the Gulf and USA.
“The acquisition not only creates a significant new global opportunity for Titan, but also enhances Titan’s overall position in the jewellery market in the GCC countries and brings in multiple synergy benefits in talent, retail networks and supply chain,” he said.
Titan’s jewellery chain Tanishq already operates 13 stores in the region with 10 in the UAE, two in Qatar, and one in Oman. Last December, it opened a flagship boutique in Dubai Gold Souk. Other leading Indian jewellery chains currently present include Kalyan Jewellers, Malabar Gold & Diamonds and Joy Alukkas, though they are building their presence organically.
While the deal was announced post trading hours, the Titan scrip closed at a gain of 0.92% at Rs 3433.3 a piece on Monday at the BSE when the benchmark Sensex was up 0.54%.
As per the proposed transaction, Signature Jewellery Holding Limited will become a holding company after acquiring the fully-paid shares of Damas LLC and all the entities under Damas LLC (UAE) will become step-down subsidiaries of Signature Jewellery. The consolidated turnover of Damas LLC as of December 2024 was AED 1,461 million. The current Graff Monobrand franchisee business of Damas LLC will be discontinued before completion of the transaction.
Alekh Grewal, group chief executive officer of Mannai Corp, said Mannai will continue to own a minority stake in Damas for the next four years as the growth plans for Damas are taken forward.
