Aditya Birla Retail (ABR), which owns the ‘More’ chain of retail stores, has announced the acquisition of the Total Superstore Business (Total Undertaking), the retail division of Jubilant Agri and Consumer Products Ltd. (JACPL).
While the deal size was not disclosed, the all-cash deal will see ABR acquire Total’s assets on a slump-sale basis.
These include the leasehold rights for four hypermarkets of Total Undertaking in Bengaluru along with movable and immovable assets, a warehouse, an office premise, working capital, trademarks, intellectual property and other rights associated with Total Undertaking.
Total Superstore business has an aggregate retail footprint of 2.87 lakh sq. ft. and the transaction is subject to approval of JAC’s parent, Jubilant Industries’ shareholders.
Aditya Birla Retail is a leading food and grocery retailer in the country with a presence in both supermarket and hypermarket formats under its brand ‘More’ which operates 482 super markets and 16 hypermarkets spread over 20 lakh sq. ft. across the country.
“The acquisition of Total Undertaking is a good strategic fit for ABR in terms of store locations and catchment areas,” said Pranab Barua, Business Director, Apparel and Retail Business, The Aditya Birla Group, adding, “this was an opportunistic situation and our aim is to stabilise ‘More’ and grow it in future.”
The transaction closely follows last week’s announcement when the Aditya Birla group announced the consolidation of all its branded apparel businesses under one company Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail to create India’s largest pure play fashion and Lifestyle company.
According to Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI), regional players are getting stronger and with fewer scale players, the attention is shifting to regional-specific players for mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
“We want to continue to focus on our strength in the south — Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru,” Mr. Barua said.
ABR posted sales of Rs.2,511 crore in 2013-14 and Mr. Barua said the company’s operations would be profitable in two years.
