Pantaloon hunts for European partners to sign joint ventures

Having almost sealed a JV with coffee chain Starbucks and fast food chain Burger King for a possible alliance, retail major Pantaloon is eying the apparel space.

The company will set up joint ventures with three European firms in menswear, premium suits wear and kidswear categories.

The European firms have well-established brands and if the JV is not materialised, the company will explore a licensing deal with a kidswear firm, said Jaydeep Shetty, head, new business, Pantaloon Retail.

Shetty, however, refused to divulge the names of the firms. "We are talking to seven to eight European brands in apparel and footware segments. "We want capture the market before it attains saturation," Shetty added.

Shetty said ETAM Future Fashions India, Pantaloon's JV with French retailer ETAM, will launch women's ready-to-wear garments for the 22-30 year age group by this year-end.

The JV has already launched lingerie wears in three of its stores in the country.The JV will set up 42 to 50 standalone stores for ETAM products in next 18 months.

The company will explore the duty-free store segment once domestic airports are open up for private development. The firm has already bagged the contract for Indira Gandhi International Airport with Delhi International Airport, co-promoted by the GMR group.

Pantaloon has tied up with UK-based Alpha Airports for setting up duty-free shops. One such store will come up next month in Delhi, Shetty said. "The company would also bid for Mumbai international airport once the GVK group calls for request for proposals(RoPs)," he said.

Shetty said that the company is in talks with Hollywood studios and Indian film producers for retailing film merchandise. The company had marketised Krish movie merchandise.

Pantaloon want to explore more JVs than licensing agreements, he said. "We are less interested in licensing agreements unlike competitors. After the end of licensing, the licensor may venture out separately . Then all your efforts may go waste. But in JV, both partners would gain," he said.

With its JV with UK retailer Lee Cooper , the company wants to attain No1 or No 2 slot. It will set up 200 door operations in three years time and Rs 200 crore business in two years, he said.

Analysts believe that Pantaloon want to establish itself strongly in multi-brand retailing and exploit the first-mover advantage in speciality brands. "In the last 2-3 years, Pantaloon has tried every option in multi-segment retailing either directly or through acquisitions. Before FDI was allowed in single brand retailing, the company was lobbying with the government to give higher preference to domestic retailers. After that, they are trying to form JV with foreign brands in every possible category. They are already present in more than 25 categories. Multi-segment retailing will definitely add to their topline and bottomline growth," said retail analyst Susil Dungarwal.