Future Retail has received interest from 49 buyers including Adani and Ambani for purchasing the firm. Reliance Group has 835 outlets in Big Bazaar.
Future Retail, the parent company of Big Bazaar which is facing heavy debt, is up for sale once again, and several big players have shown interest in acquiring it. Along with Jindal Group, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are among the 49 businesses that have submitted proposals to purchase it. With Adani-Ambani entering the race, the competition to acquire Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail is expected to be interesting.
After this information was made public, the company’s shares saw an increase on Monday, going up by 4.17 percent to Rs 2.40.
Reliance Group took over Future Retail’s 835 stores across the country a year ago but still has a small portion available for purchase. Recently, 49 new bidders have applied to buy them, as stated by the company. These Big Bazaar stores were acquired by Mukesh Ambani’s company in February 2022 and have now been transformed into smart stores.
Who is Kishore Biyani?
Kishore Biyani, who is the founder and CEO of the parent company Future Group, established Big Bazaar in 2001. He currently serves as the Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board, as well as the Group CEO of the Future Group and the Managing Director of Future Retail Ltd. The Future Group comprises the convenience store chain EasyDay, the food retailer Food Hall, and the hypermarket brand Big Bazaar.
Rise of Kishore Biyani
In 1997, Kishore Biyani introduced the Pantaloons family store, marking the company’s entry into organized retail. The following year, he launched Big Bazaar, an exclusively Indian hypermarket model that revolutionized shopping in India by making it more accessible to the masses. Kishore Biyani currently holds the position of Non-Executive Vice Chairman on the Board of Future Lifestyle Fashions and earns a total salary of Rs 7,548,660.
What went wrong with Big Bazaar?
Big Bazaar began to struggle with debts in 2017, and by 2019, it had to shut down many of its stores. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further impacted Big Bazaar’s sales. As a result, Future Group sold Big Bazaar to Reliance Industries.
The Future Group, which was once the second-largest retail store in the country, is now struggling with massive debt amounting to Rs 21,000 crore from various creditors. Last year, Reliance took over 835 stores and accrued an outstanding rent of Rs 4,800 crore.
