Archies, greeting cards major, has announced that it is engaged in talks with Venugopal Dhoot’s Videocon Group for a likely stake sale. Mr Anil Moolchandani, the chairman and managing director of Archies, pointed out that Videocon did not directly approach them to purchase stake in the company. He thereafter added that negotiations nevertheless are on through a middleman and not strictly restricted just to Videocon group. Mr Moolchandani said Archies wants to jack up funds to finance its expansion program through means that also include private equity placement and debt.

The chairman and MD of Archies, however, kept from divulging how much fund his company wants to raise or how much stake it is ready to sell off. On the other hand, in a BSE filing earlier in the day the company stated that it is not in talks with the Videocon Group. ‘The company have had no talks with Videocon Group for any kind of a buyout or strategic control stake sale,” the filing stated. “The company requires funds for its expansion plans and for this purpose is looking into various options of fund raising such as debt finance and equity participation. However, there is no plan of the promoters to sell their controlling stake,’ it added.