Godrej’s offline and online retail store Nature’s Basket, which has 36 stores running in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune, has been taken over by Spencer’s Retail for Rs 300 crore, reports Economic Times.
Owned by RP-Sanjiv Group, Spencer’s considers itself stronger in the East with some sprinkling presence in the South. The interesting part of this transaction is that the owners on both sides are formidable business houses in India with a long history.
The acquisition of Nature’s basket is reportedly an all-cash transaction. The rationale being offered is that Spencer’s Retail gets a chance to spread into the West. They may also go on to create an omni channel presence. Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru are the cities where Nature’s Basket have their stores. ET quotes Tanya Dubash, the executive director and chief brand officer at Godrej as saying that Nature’s Basket was sold to further unlock the immense potential of the Nature's Basket brand and to grow it to even greater heights.
They have developed a number of private labels, which the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group feels could be taken to their Spencer’s Retail stores and online, as they plan to. Nature’s Basket has been around for 14 years and will benefit Spencer’s Retail in their efforts at consolidating their new position as a combined retail business after the acquisition.
Kolkata-headquartered Goenka Group wants to take Spencer’s Retail national and take full advantage of the current and future potential for retail business in the country. It cannot be denied that the sector has come alive over the past decade and seems poised for a multi-dimensional growth in the coming years. Interestingly, Nature’s Basket appears to have some presence online as well, however limited and Spencer’s Retail would want to leverage it and will merge it with its own plans to establish an online presence. Spencer’s Retail is the larger of the two with a turnover that is multiple times that of Nature’s Basket and makes a slender profit too.