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HomeEconomyMukesh Ambani buys iconic British toy store chain Hamleys

Mukesh Ambani buys iconic British toy store chain Hamleys

The Hamleys acquisition is the latest in a string of purchases in Ambani’s push into consumer business & will add heft in battle with Amazon & Walmart.

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Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, sealed another deal to expand his retail footprint and add heft in a battle with Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. in India.

Reliance Brands Ltd. agreed to purchase the 259-year-old British toy store chain Hamleys from C.Banner International Holdings Ltd. for an undisclosed amount, the unit of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. said in a statement late Thursday. The transaction would “catapult Reliance Brands to be a dominant player in the global toy retail industry,” it said.

The acquisition is the latest in a string of purchases in Ambani’s push into the consumer business, which he says will contribute nearly as much as to the conglomerate’s total earnings as its core energy business by the end of 2028. Adding Hamleys would give Reliance 167 stores across 18 countries. The company is already a master franchisee of the toy store in India, where it operates 88 outlets.

The Tiny Deals Behind Mukesh Ambani’s Bid to Take on Amazon

For Hong Kong-listed C.Banner, the sale would mark a retreat from the U.K. after the Chinese company last year dropped plans to purchase a majority stake in House of Fraser, a struggling department store chain that was rescued by Sports Direct International Plc. In 2015, C. Banner paid 100 million pounds ($130 million) for Hamleys, which was founded in 1760 and opened its London flagship store in 1881.

Ambani is stitching together a network of partners through stake purchases or outright acquisitions in the race with Amazon and Walmart for a slice of India’s growing online shopping market, which Morgan Stanley estimates will be valued at $200 billion by 2028.


Also readMukesh Ambani is making tiny deals to take on Amazon & Walmart


 

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SourceBloomberg

1 COMMENT

  1. What Ambani should also do is to re-route the Hamley’s supply chain to India…identify manufacturing hubs in the country for producing low cost toys. Otherwise, this acquisition would be just another toy acquired by the billionaire with no advantage to India.

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