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Trent buys out Hemu’s stake in Landmark

CHENNAI: Tata-owned retailer Trent has bought out Hemu Ramaiah’s stake in Chennai-based Landmark for an undisclosed sum. Ms. Ramaiah held 24 per cent stake.

Confirming the stake sale, Ms. Ramaiah told this correspondent that she was venturing into retail design and consultancy space. A new company by the name and style of Shop 4 Solutions had already been formed, she said. She felt that retail consultancy was still an unexplored field and that it had a big scope.

Trent, it may be recalled, had acquired 76 per cent stake in Landmark, then a partnership firm, for Rs. 103.60 crore in August 2005. It had then acquired 75 per cent from Ms. Hemu Ramaiah’s brother Natraj Ramaiah, the main promoter of the Landmark chain, in an all-cash deal. Ms Ramaiah herself had sold one per cent and retained a 24 per cent stake.

At the time of Trent taking over majority control in Landmark, it was agreed that Ms. Ramaiah would exit the company at her own convenient time. “I have chosen to exit now,” she said. “I have been on the shop-floor for 30 years now,” she said. “I wanted to do something new,” she added. Ms. Ramaiah and her brother were the original promoters of books and gifts retailer Landmark.

Post-the Trent investment, Ms Ramaiah continued to be the CEO while Himanshu Chakrawarti of Trent joined as COO. Since then, the Landmark chain has spread its wings. Today, it has over 15 stores across cities such as Chennai, Puducherry, Bangalore, Mumbai, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Landmark, it may be recalled, earlier had an equal joint venture with the Emami group for a store in Kolkata. In 2006, Emami bought out Ms Ramaiah’s stake and rechristened the store as Starmark.

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