Comments
Tata Sons-promoted Infiniti Retail Ltd has acquired the Indian business of Australia’s supermarket Woolworths for A$35 million (about Rs 220 crore).
Woolworths entered into a sourcing agreement with Infiniti Retail in 2006. It also provided technical support to the latter, besides helping design the layout for the stores. However, the company decided to sell its India venture after the parent company decided to exit the consumer electronics segment in Australia and India, to focus on its core business.
Woolworths operates supermarkets, department stores, liquor outlets, hotels and home improvement stores in Australia and New Zealand.
“In a meeting with the Woolworths team in May, we decided to acquire the Indian arm. The acquisition makes sense for us, as it will help us cut costs, as both the businesses will be merged into one entity. The transaction will be completed in a few weeks,” said Ajit Joshi, Managing Director, Infiniti Retail.
The total investment in Infiniti Retail by Tata Sons is Rs 700 crore. This also marks a new phase of growth for the company, which is already growing at 40 per cent annually, Joshi said.
He said the acquisition would help the company grow in double digits in fiscal 2013. The company’s total revenues for last fiscal stood at Rs 1,900 crore. “We also plan to open 20 Croma stores this year,” he said. At present, Infiniti Retail operates 75 Croma stores.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.