Samsonite President (Asia-Pacific and West Asia), Ramesh Tainwala, has acquired a 48.5 per cent stake in Planet Retail, a Mumbai-based lifestyle and fashion retailer. With this, Tainwala now has a stake equal to the firm’s promoter, V P Sharma, a non-resident Indian based in Indonesia. Together, Tainwala and Sharma own 97 per cent of the company, while Future Group’s Kishore Biyani holds the remaining 3 per cent.
Planet Retail, which has a turnover of Rs 170 crore, has in-licensing agreements with fashion brands Guess, Accessorize and Nautica. It also has the in-licensing mandate for Debenhams, a British departmental store chain, and Body Shop, a UK-based beauty products major. The company has close to 200 stores, and plans to raise the number to about 700 in the next three years. In order to expand, the firm will invest close to Rs 450 crore, Rs 110 crore of which will be invested this year.
“The gameplan is to improve turnover in the next three years. We would like to see sales go up to Rs 500 crore from the current Rs 170 crore,” says Tainwala.
Tainwala, who oversees Planet Retail’s day-to-day operations, has also appointed a new team. He says that there are no plans to add more international brands to the fold.
“We would like to keep our attention on the five big brands we have. There is scope to grow these before we venture out to get more.” The firm also plans to set up shops-in-shops of Samsonite at Debenhams, four of which are slated to come up this year, says Tainwala. Currently, the only Debenhams store is in Gurgaon.
