Future Group plans deals to cut debt

Future Group, India’s largest retailer which owns Pantaloon Retail, is looking to sell stakes in brands and units to raise funds and help cut the group’s $1.6 billion debt, the Economic Times reported on Monday. ‘We are working on 18 deals and expect to consummate many of the transactions early next fiscal (year). We will be a zero-debt company by March 2013,’ Future Group chairman Kishore Biyani told the newspaper. The group plans to raise 25 billion to 30 billion rupees by selling a minority stake in Future Value Retail, which owns Big Bazaar hypermarkets and Food Bazaar supermarkets, to a strategic investor, the paper said. It plans to merge its electronics retail chain eZone with a services company based near New Delhi and bring in financial and strategic partners for HomeTown, its furniture retail chain, helping cut the debt of the parent company, Pantaloon, by around 6 billion to 7 billion rupees, the paper said. Biyani could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters. Pantaloon Retail has debt of 25 billion rupees. Separately, Future Logistics, a group firm, is looking to raise 8 billion to 10 billion rupees from private equity investors, the paper said. ‘Talks are on with three PE funds and we will be able to seal a deal within two months,’ Biyani told the paper. Another group firm Future Ventures, which has invested in three dozen brands, including BiBa, Indus League, Celio and Indigo Nation, is also likely to sell some holdings, the paper said.