Spencer’s Retail Acquires Nature’s Basket For Rs 300 Crore

Spencer’s Retail will acquire Godrej Industries Ltd.’s groceries and fresh food store chain Nature’s Basket for Rs 300 crore as it focuses on retailing food, apparel, electronics and lifestyle products.

The deal will give Spencer’s Retail access to Nature’s Basket’s 36 stores at prime locations in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru, RP Sanjiv Goenka group’s flagship said in an exchange filing.

“These stores have high sales throughput per square feet and will add Rs 363 crore of top line to Spencer’s Retail portfolio,” Shashwat Goenka, sector head for retail and FMCG for RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, said in a statement.

Nature’s Basket reported revenue worth Rs 338 crore in financial year ended March 2019, a growth of 17 percent from a year ago, according to the filing.

Tanya Dubash, executive director and chief brand officer at Godrej Group, said the group felt it prudent to pass on Nature’s Basket to owners who “prioritised retail in their portfolio”. RP Sanjiv Goenka has the ecosystem to take Nature’s Basket to the next level, she said in the statement.

Spencer’s Retail will buy 44.5 crore fully paid up equity shares of Nature’s Basket at Rs 10 each, according to the filing. The deal is subject to shareholders’ approval. The board of Spencer’s Retail will seek their nod through postal ballot and has fixed May 22 as the cut-off date for the purpose of determining eligibility of shareholders for voting, it said.