Bharti Group firm sells 6 percent stake in Future Retail for Rs 1,697 crore

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jun 8, 2018

Bharti Group entity Cedar Support Services has sold 6 percent of its stake in Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail for around Rs 1,697 crore in open market transactions.
 

Cedar sold 3.03 crore of its shares in Future Retail with Pi Opportunities Fund I and Pioneer Investment Fund being the major buyers, according to the deal data filed with the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
 
Pi Opportunities Fund I bought 2.27 crore shares at an average price of Rs 560 for a total of Rs 1,272.71 crore while Pioneer Investment Fund picked up 71.43 lakh shares at an average price of Rs 560 for Rs 400 crore.

The deal now leaves Cedar with around 1.6 crore shares or around 3 percent stake in the country’s leading retail group.
 
Interestingly, Future Group is holding talks with Wipro chairman Azim Premji’s investment firm Premji Invest to raise funds around $250 million in exchange of 6 percent stake in Future Retail.
 
Global e-commerce major Amazon is also believed to be interested in picking up 10% stake in Future Group for about $400 million.
 
Future Retail is the retail entity of the Future Group and the highest revenue generator for the company. It had reported a total income of Rs 18,489.64 crore (approx $2.8 billion) for the last financial year.
 
Future Retail is the group’s retail arm, and operates 2,500 stores across various formats and brands like Big Bazaar, Easyday, Brand Factory and HyperCity, among others.