| The first shot has been fired in the age of FDI in single-brand retail. On December 23, Finland's Amer Sports, which owns several leading global sporting brands, sent a letter to Pantaloon Retail, terminating an April 2010 agreement that had made the Kishore Biyani-owned company the exclusive distributor of Wilson and W brands in India. Pantaloon struck back, suing the Finnish company in the Delhi High Court and securing an injunction. The case is scheduled for hearing in February. A person with direct knowledge of the matter said that Amer snapped the agreement as it wanted to open its own branded stores in India, since the country now allows full foreign ownership of single-brand retail ventures. The company owns prominent brands including Wilson, W, Atomic and Solomon.
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| Spanish sports and lifestyle brand Kelme announced its entry into India on Wednesday. The first Kelme store, stocking sports shoes and apparel, opened in West Delhi today. The brand has been brought here by Indian company Global Overseas through a licensing arrangement. For Global Overseas this is the second sporty brand it has brought in, having brought in Indonesian badminton equipment brand Flypower earlier. | |
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| In a new trend emerging in the Indian private equity (PE) space, retail-focussed funds are planning to go solo and directly buy land and develop it than invest in a project. A UK-based commercial realty fund with investments in Mumbai and Bangalore, is said to be in talks to buy land near Bangalore, industry sources said. Another PE fund, an arm of a realty company based out of the UK and listed in Europe, is also in talks for buying two land parcels in tier 2 cities. Both deals, the first of its kind in the domestic market, would be concluded by March end, sources said.
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