After selling off stores and assets of debt-ridden Vishal Retail, the company’s founder R C Agarwal today said he is ready to make a come back in the retail space with a chain of stores under the ‘ V2 . brand within the next 2-3 months.
In an e-mailed interview, Agarwal told PTI that his new venture will be rolled out under the already publicly listed, Vishal Retail Ltd, with an initial investment of up to Rs 8 crore.
“The name of the brand is V2…It will be done under Vishal Retail Ltd, a listed company,” Agarwal said.
In March this year, Vishal Retail Ltd sold off the wholesale and franchise business to private equity firm TPG and the retail undertaking to Chennai-based Shriram Group for a total consideration of Rs 70 crore.
The transaction also included rights to all trademarks and intellectual property for brands like Vishal, Vishal Retail, Vishal Megamart and Vishal Fashion Mart .
Consequently, Agarwal has chosen a different brand for his new retail venture.
Asked by when he would kick off operations of the new venture, he said it will happen “within 2-3 months”.
On the planned investment, he said: “Initial investment will be in the range of (Rs) 7 to (Rs) 8 crore.”
As per the plan, Agarwal is looking to set up five hypermarkets to begin with in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and Jharkhand.
At the time of selling the assets and stores of Vishal Retail, Agarwal had stated that he was preparing a blueprint for a new business and was confident of a ‘formidable come back in no time’.
He had founded Vishal Retail a decade back and the brand became a popular name in the country in the discount retail segment.
In 2009, however, Vishal Retail got into financial trouble and piled up around Rs 730 crore in debt and was forced into a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) programme.
Source : Economic Times
