Future Group-Bharti Retail's Rs 750 crore deal gets CCI nod, to have 570 retail stores in 243 cities

NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday approved the Rs 750-crore merger deal between Kishore Biyani-controlled Future Retail and Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Retail.

"CCI approves the merger of retail store and retail infrastructure businesses of Future Retail Ltd and Bharti Retail Ltd," the competition regulator said in a tweet. The merger notice was yet to be uploaded by CCI on its website.

The combined entity will have over 570 retail stores in 243 cities. It will operate 203 Big Bazaar and 'Easyday' hypermarkets, 197 Food Bazaar and 'Easyday' supermarkets, and 171 other stores comprising Home Town, eZone, FBB and Foodhall.

The combined entity will have an operational retail space of over 18.5 million square feet and an estimated revenue of Rs 15,000 crore. The deal between the two was announced in May this year.

The new entity, called Future Retail, will hold the combined store operations. Another new entity -- Future Enterprises -- will own the infrastructure, investments and assets of both chains, a joint statement issued by the two companies said.

Future Group, the parent of Future Retail, will hold 46-47%, while Bharti Retail will own roughly 10% in each of the two firms.

In May, Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani had said: "We are merging our retail businesses to create two separate companies. The combined retail entity will have a total turnover of Rs 15,000 crore."

The two entities will be operated by four directors each from Bharti Enterprises and Future Group. The CEO will be appointed by the Future Group.

Bharti has been looking for a partner since October 2013, when it parted ways with Walmart Stores.