BIG BAZAAR

Pantaloon to hive off Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar in 3 months
PTI 1 November 2009, 11:43am IST
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MUMBAI: India's largest listed retailer, Pantaloon Retail India, plans to complete the process of hiving-off Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar into a

wholly-owned subsidiary in the next two to three months.

The Kishore Biyani-promoted company will approach shareholders through a postal ballot in the next two months, after its Board on Friday approved spinning-off its Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Fashion@Big Bazaar operations.

"The process of realignment has started and should be over in the next two to three months. We will seek shareholders approval through a postal ballot in the next 60 days," Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd's managing director, Kishore Biyani, said.

Pantaloon Retail aims to raise funds to fuel expansion through the new subsidiary, which would be named Future Value Retail and governed independently.

"Hiving off is not the main thing. We want to unlock more value for the shareholders and be seen as a pure retail player," Biyani said.

The company operates 119 Big Bazaar stores in over 70 cities across the country and plans to expand and operate close to 275 stores by 2014.