Carrefour finally says yes
Posted by Liju Philip on May 3, 2010
After years of talking to many industrial and retail houses, the French retail giant, Carrefour has agreed for a retail alliance with Kishore Biyani's Future Group.
Future Group will open Carrefour-branded franchise stores in the country under a deal signed three months ago, said the two persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement is yet to be made.
Future Group plans to open between 150 and 300 Carrefour-branded hypermarkets in the next five years, said one of the two persons.
"This is quite ambitious given the challenges in finding right space required for such hypermarkets," said the person.
Future Group, which runs Pantaloon and the Big Bazaar chains, will pay the French retailer a royalty for using the brand, said the person, who declined to specify the royalty amount.
Indian rules allow foreign multi-brand retailers to operate in the country only through franchise agreements with local firms.
Carrefour has been scouting for a partner for several years, without success. It has previously held talks with Bharti Enterprises Ltd, which teamed up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Wadia Group, and real estate firms DLF Ltd and MGF Ltd, among others.
In 2007, Carrefour started two separate units in India, Carrefour WC and C India Pvt. Ltd to roll out fully owned wholesale stores, and Carrefour India Master Franchise Co. Pvt. Ltd, which was to partner an Indian company to open the French firm's branded stores in the country.
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B K CHOWLA says:
I have been reading about this in Indian press for a long time now. The problem was the equity percentage.
It seems to have been sorted out.