TVS Capital Funds has sold its stake of close to 25 per cent in Landmark Ltd for a consideration of Rs 84-crore, post tax.

Landmark is a retail chain that sells a range of products such as books, music, jewellery, greeting cards and kitchenware, and is a subsidiary of Trent Ltd, a company of the Tata group.

Trent said in a filing to the BSE that the company’s board has approved to purchase from TVS Shriram Growth Fund I its entire shareholding of 18.25 lakh shares of Rs 10 each of Landmark Ltd.

On Monday, the shares of Trent closed at Rs 1,145.10 on the BSE, down 1.14 per cent from its previous close.

TVS Capital invested Rs 65 crore in Landmark in November 2009.

Landmark was promoted by an entrepreneur, Hemu Ramaiah, and was taken over by Trent in 2005.

However, TVS Capital has retained its option to buy ‘40 plus’ stake in Westland, a book publisher and a subsidiary of Landmark. “We are likely to exercise this option,” Gopal Srinivasan, founder and Chairman of TVS Capital Funds Ltd, told today.

The investment in Landmark was made out of a venture capital fund managed by TVS Capital, called TVS Shriram Growth Fund I. This Rs 590-crore fund was formed with investments by the TVS group and the Shriram group of Chennai.

The fund targets investments across consumer consumption and business services such as retail, healthcare delivery, education, hospitality, food and agro, FMCG, restaurants, media and entertainment, facilities management and institutional catering and security services.

Answering a question, Gopal Srinivasan said the fund has returned Rs 109 crore to the investors.

>ramesh.m@thehindu.co.in