New Delhi: Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd is in talks with Sankalp Retail Value Stores, the India franchisee for the US-based My Dollarstore Inc., to buy a stake in the venture ahead of Sankalp’s plan to roll out several stores in the country in the coming years.
Kishore Biyani’s Pantaloon Retail may be close to buying a stake of between 26% and 30% in Sankalp
Future Capital, a unit of Pantaloon which is India’s largest listed retailer, confirmed that it is currently in discussions to buy a stake.
“We haven’t agreed to anything (as yet), but we are talking to them,” said Samir Sain, managing director of Future Capital.
Sain said plans to buy stake are “being discussed, but haven’t reached a conclusion.” He declined to say how much stake Future is planning to buy in Sankalp Retail.
My Dollarstore, that sells everything for Rs99, currently has 47 stores in several cities since it made its India debut in Mumbai in 2004. The company plans to add 11 more by March and take the number of stores to about 200 in the next two years, according to newly appointed chief executive Soumitra Ghatak.
According to Ghatak, his predecessor Ajoy Krishnamurti, who has left the firm, may join Reliance Retail Ltd. Reliance Retail could not be reached for comment.
Last week, television channel CNBC TV-18 citing people close to the situation said that Future Capital’s private equity arm, Indivision, is close to buying a stake of between 26% and 30% in Sankalp for anything between Rs20 crore and Rs40 crore.
Although India doesn’t permit foreign multi-brand retailers to own stakes in India, the country allows Indian companies to operate franchisee stores of overseas brands. My Dollarstore and South Africa’s Shoprite are foreign retail brands operating as franchisee stores in the country.