Kishore Biyani-led Future Group has bought Sangam Direct, a chain of retail stores earlier known as Sabka Bazaar, from Wadhawan Retail Ventures Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount, two media reports said.
The Mint newspaper reported the development citing Biyani. He didn’t comment on the deal value.
The Economic Times cited an unnamed person as saying that Future Group will purchase Sangam's stores through a lease transfer rather than paying in cash.
This is Future Group’s fourth acquisition since 2012, after Big Apple, Nilgiri’s and Bharti Retail.
Email queries to Future Group and Wadhwan Retail didn’t elicit any response till the time of filing this article.
Sangam Direct, which has 30 to 35 stores across Delhi and Bengaluru, was started by Hindustan Unilever Ltd in 2001 as its online groceries delivery platform. Later, it was acquired in 2007 by the Wadhawan group, which owned the Spinach retail chain.
Future Group, the second-biggest brick-and-mortar retailer after billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail Ltd, operates hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, supermarket chain Food Bazaar and electronics store eZone, among others.
Earlier this month, Future Group was reported to be in advanced discussions to acquire the retail business of Hyderabad-based Heritage Foods Ltd.
The company seems to be banking on the inorganic route to consolidate its presence in the retail space. Last month, it was also reported to be in talks to acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd’s megamarket brand ‘More’ in a bid to consolidate its dominance in the offline retail space.
The company operates about 700 retail stores in around 200 cities across the country. The group also operates its own online shopping ventures such as Bigbazaardirect.com and futurebazaar.com but has limited presence in India’s overall e-commerce industry.
Biyani, who has previously accused e-tailers of predatory pricing backed with foreign funding, recently made his first acquisition in the e-commerce space by acquiring Rocket Internet-backed online furniture and home furnishings store FabFurnish.com in an all-cash deal.
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