September 18, 2007, New Delhi: SVIL Mines Limited (part of Floriana Group) today announced a significant investment by funds advised by Citi Venture Capital International (“CVCI”), who have invested Rs. 150 crore into the company. Floriana Group is on the threshold of bringing about revolutionary changes in the dynamics of the unorganized marble industry in the country and heralds a new era in the business.
Rajan Kaicker, Director, SVIL Mines Ltd. said, “We are happy to have CVCI as a partner as their participation along with our knowledge, technology and unique products palate will create a platform for scalable growth. We hope to achieve our Vison of becoming a global leader in Marble through our Innovation & Leadership by 2012.”
The Group has already invested over Rs. 450 cr aggressively in state-of-the art patented Italian technology for processing of marble and the cash infusion by funds advised by CVCI will be used to invest in establishing a network to reach out to the vast number of large, medium and small cities in India. Floriana Group plans on having over 300 franchise owned company operated formats, introducing pre-polished, open book marble, which can be as thin as 3mm and can even be used in airplanes, raised flooring, ships, ceilings, elevators and walls in many unique, distinctive and exclusive textures.
As part of its launch plans, Floriana Group also plans on offering exemplary customized service, which will include having the customer select marble in a retail environment with consultancy to match, have the marble cut to size and fitted at their place. This will take away the onus on the customer to find a good person to place it right, as marble laying is a critical aspect of the process. We are also in discussions with some financial institutions to provide finance options to our customers.
Ajay Rehlan, Managing Director, Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI) – India & Middle East, said,” We are excited to be working with the Floriana group and their dynamic promoters and managers. It is our belief that they are well positioned to consolidate the fragmented marble market in India and to emerge as a dominant player in this industry over the next few years and it would be our privilege to be part of this story as it unfolds.”
The company also has plans to export to the world and, instead of importing from Italy, will be officially launching their product range globally on October 4 at Verona, Italy at the largest Marble event in the world. To support this initiative, SVIL Mines has set up the World’s largest integrated marble processing plant established in collaboration with GEO SRL, Italy.
• The plant has the capacity to produce 5.9 million sq m of marble slabs & tiles per annum
• The mines have several variants of marble
Edelweiss Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to SVIL Mines on the transaction.
