Indian jewellery design and manufacturing firm Renaissance has agreed to acquire US-based Jay Gems for about Rs 200 crore.
The transaction will help Renaissance get access to Disney’s famous collection of jewellery wear as Jay Gems has an exclusive licensing agreement with the world famous Enchanted collection by Disney Fine Jewellery. The deal is expected to be announced as early as next week, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter told ET.
New York-based Jay Gems has a strong clientele including Zale, JC Penny, Signet, Fred Meyer, and Riddles, with a strong presence across the US, the UK and Canada.
Disney is the biggest licensing company in the world with $55.1billion global sales in 2017. The brand, Disney Princess itself has sales of $ 3 billion globally.
“The deal will help us to get access to this huge market globally. The intent of the deal is to bring them to Asian markets including India, China, Japan and Korea,” said one of the sources mentioned above.
Sumit Shah, vice chairman of Renaissance, declined to comment.
Renaissance clocked 24% growth in sales at Rs 1,825.1 crore during FY18. Jay Gems had a revenue of $79.54 million (Rs 554 crore) in FY17, with 50% of its sales coming from Disney’s Enchanted collection, one of the most loved brands among jewellery users across the globe.
The Enchanted collection features a variety of designs ranging from earrings, rings and pendants.
According to a study by the Knot/XO Group, one in four brides want something from Disney to be a part of their wedding. It has a billion plus followers on social networks.
In 2016, RJL got the license with Hallmark to launch the Heart of Hallmark Jewellery collection.
“The new acquisition is also in line with its strategy to secure licenses for global brands,” said another of the sources mentioned above.
“The acquisition is highly value accretive, adding a globally popular brand. This also gives the company the potential to enter new geographies like China with this brand. This will build synergies and save costs. It will contribute an EBIDTA of $7-8 million by 2020-21. We see the synergies to start showing results in 12-18 months,” he added.
Started in 1995, Renaissance is the largest manufacturer and supplier of branded studded jewellery to major global retailers in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The company has four manufacturing units in India (Mumbai and Bhavnagar), Bangladesh and Dubai.
Source: Economic Times