News: Pantaloon arm raises $400 m

(TT 30/05/2006) Calcutta - Indivision Capital, a private equity fund launched by the Pantaloon group targeted at the domestic consumer goods industries, has raised $400 million with some of the world’s well-known families investing in the fund.

Global financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs has come in as the anchor investor with a commitment of $100 million.

Group CEO Kishore Biyani said the fund would be closed in a few days. He, however, declined to identify the investors.

“They are all high net worth individuals,” Biyani said on the sidelines of a seminar on retail in Calcutta on Saturday.

The fund would pick up stakes both in listed and in private companies in the consumer sector and it will be controlled by the present management.

The money would be deployed within two years. Biyani said he is expecting a return of 30 per cent annually. “We will invest in 20-25 companies.”

Although there is a green-shoe option to raise more money, the fund has decided to go against it.

Pantaloon has roped in Atul Kapur, managing director and principal strategist of Goldman Sachs’s private equity fund, to head Indivision Capital as the managing director and chief investment officer.

Indivision will provide guidance to the firms where it will invest. Also, the invested firms will get a national distribution network for their products through Pantaloon.

Bengal plan

Pantaloon will invest Rs 500 crore in Bengal in the next two years to develop property and take space on rent to launch its different retail formats. Its pan-Indian investment would be close to Rs 2,500 crore.

Biyani said 30 lakh square feet of retail space would come up in Calcutta alone, while another 4-5 lakh would be in districts.

The group would set up 11 Big Bazaar, 20 Food Bazaar and six Pantaloon shops during this period.

Presently, it has 2 lakh square feet of space.

It is planning a 30,000-sq-ft facility in Haldia, 50,000 sq ft in Burdwan and 100,000 sq ft in Kharagpur. Apart from this, it has planned various retail formats for Darjeeling, Siliguri and Guwahati.

The company is also set to launch its high-end electronic brand, Sensei, in the coming months.