Aussino buys stake in Hardy

By Michele SanFilippo -- Home Textiles Today, 12/22/2003 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Aussino Group Ltd., parent of Aussino USA, has purchased a minority stake totaling 29.5 percent of Hardy Amies PLC of London. Anthony Lim, Aussino's chairman and ceo, personally bought a 10 percent stake and will now become chairman of Hardy Amies PLC, the Savile Row couture house that dressed Queen Elizabeth and the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

As a strategic partner, Aussino Group will help Hardy Amies expand and launch into the home furnishings arena in the near future. A new couture collection will be introduced, while international licensing deals will be enhanced with such new items as the home fashion collection, ready to wear lines, perfumes and watches.

Hardy Amies' ceo Tim Maltin said, "We approached Aussino because we felt the company needed a partner in China, which is becoming the high quality manufacturing base. "