Arvind acquires ops of Debenhams, Next, Nautica

Ahmedabad: Arvind Lifestyle Brands, a subsidiary of the Ahmedabad-based denim major Arvind, has acquired the business operations of British fashion retailers Debenhams, Next and American lifestyle brand Nautica in India from Planet Retail.

"The acquisition signals our entry into the department store segment and also the globally fast-growing apparel speciality retail segment. American sportwear lifestyle brand Nautica makes us the dominant player in the sportswear segment. With this, we have taken a big step towards strengthening our position in the Indian fashion industry,” said Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director, Arvind.

These acquisitions will accelerate our growth and contribute to our vision of achieving sales of Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years," he said.

Added J Suresh, managing director and chief executive officer of Arvind Lifestyle Brands: “We plan to achieve Rs 500 crore revenues over the next five years from the current Rs 70 crore by investing Rs 150 crore in these three brands."

The company termed the acquisition of Debenhams as significant mainly because it gives Arvind an entry into the luxury department store segment. Arvind plans to increase the current number of Debenhams stores in India from two to eight over the next three years. While through acquisition of Indian businesses of Next, Arvind will enter the fast-growing segment of the apparel specialty retail. It plans to increase the number of Next stores from three to 12 in the next three years.

Commenting on the acquisition, a Next spokesperson said: "We are very positive about the new franchise partnership and we are looking forward to Arvind Brands re-launching the Next brand in India."

The licensing arrangement with Nautica is believed to further strengthen Arvind's position in high potential sportswear segment of the market. The company plans to set up additional 30 Nautica stores in India, taking the total number of free-standing Nautica stores to 41 in three years.

The company's stock on Thursday ended at Rs 78.65, up 0.32 per cent from Wednesday's close, while the benchmark Sensex shed 0.28 per cent to close at 18,579.50 points.