HSA mulls tie-up with Reliance Retail

Hayel Saeed Anam Group (HSA), a Yemen-based business group, is considering the possibility of tying up with the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail Limited for setting up a retail chain in Yemen.

"We are quite impressed with the retail format of Reliance and the way it has been functioning in India. We intend to take this concept to Yemen by setting up a chain of retail stores there. We are weighing various options including forming a joint venture with Reliance or taking up an equity participation in the project. We are currently working out detailed modalities on this and plan to hold talks with the company soon," Shawki Ahmed Hayel, executive director of HSA and honourary deputy governor of Taiz state in Yemen, told mediapersons on the sidelines of a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HSA is one of the largest business groups in Yemen with interests in manufacture of FMCG products, processing, export and import of seafood, plastics, diary and bakery products, textiles, agriculture, banking, transportation, insurance, cosmetics and perfumes, etc. The group is also engaged in buying and selling of refinery products.

On the progress of the company's $532-million Ras Issa refinery project in Yemen, in which Reliance Industries and International Finance Corporation also hold stakes, Hayel said, "Reliance officials have already visited the project site, which is located on the Red Sea coast of Yemen, and reviewed the work. The project, which will have the capacity to produce around 8,000 tonnes of different refinery products, will be completed in three years."

The refinery project is being constructed by Hood Oil, a subsidiary of HSA.