Reliance Retail to acquire Arvind Fashions arm

NEW DELHI: Reliance Retail will acquire Arvind Beauty Brands Retail, a subsidiary of Arvind Fashions that runs the Sephora India business, in a Rs 99 crore all cash deal. As part of the transaction, Reliance’s retail armwill take over the operations of Sephora’s 26 stores across 13 Indian cities, besides gaining exclusive rights to build Sephora’s presence in India across channels, Reliance and Arvind Fashions said in separate filings on Friday.Prestige beauty retail brand Sephora is part of the France head-quarteredLVMH Group and operates more than 2700 stores globally.
Reliance Retail’s strategy, analysts said, is to play across segments, ranging from beauty to fashion; with its deep pockets and wide distribution network, scaling up presence across spaces is not a constraint either. Reliance Retail already runs its own omni-channel beauty offering Tira and with Sephora’s India business within its fold, its beauty play will only get bolstered, said analysts.
“The Indian consumerism journey is at a tipping point…this partnership (with Sephora) will help us straddle across the value chain in beauty and personal care segment,” V Subramaniam, director at Reliance Retail Venture (RRVL) said in a statement.
In a stock exchange filing, Arvind Fashions said that it intends to use the proceeds from the deal to invest in growth of its brands portfolio and repay debt.