Pantaloon Retail India Limited (PRIL) has decided to terminate its joint venture (JV) with Planet Retail Holdings. The company has also terminated its JV with Blue Foods, which runs restaurant chains such as Bombay Blue, Noodle Bar and Copper Chimney. “Planet Retail has two businesses, which is apparel and sports. We are running the sports business and it has become a wholly-owned subsidiary.
That’s why the JV with Planet Retail is being terminated,” Kishore Biyani, chief executive officer, Future Group, told Financial Chronicle. PRIL had 49 per cent stake in Planet Retail Holdings.
About the termination of the JV with Blue Foods, Biyani said, “Blue Foods has merged into a different entity, so the JV stands terminated.”
KK Malhotra, chief executive officer of Pan India Food Solutions, which is a JV between PRIL and Blue Foods, refused to comment on the story.
Sunil Kapur, chief executive officer of Blue Foods, said, “There will be no operational or management change as a result of this. It is a slump sale for better accounting.”
Kapur said PRIL’s interest has been reduced because private equity (PE) fund Indivision Capital has entered as an investor. “The shareholding pattern of Blue Foods group has slightly altered because of this but there will no major change in the basic structure,” he said.
A senior official of a PE fund said Indivision has infused Rs 100 crore in Blue Foods in October 2008, which is scheduled to come in seven tranches.”
Source: Financial Chronicle
