Reliance looking for stake in French retailer Carrefour

Mumbai: The Reliance group is in talks with French retail major Carrefour and other global players for acquiring a controlling stake in its bid to have a global footprint.

The Mukesh Ambani group firm Reliance Retail is trying to reach out to international consumers with its basket of Indian food produce.

Besides Carrefour, Reliance is also talking to tier-2 companies like Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer for food business, reports said.

Reliance Industries (RIL) is looking to create international business arms for accessing global markets by leveraging on its supply chain that was put in place as part of the farm-to-fork project.

RIL is also in the process of creating an acquisition chest of Rs100,000 crore to fund its acquisitions.

Carrefour is a major player in the Chinese market where it is the largest foreign retailer. However, it may lose that position if US rival Wal-Mart makes major acquisitions in China.

Carrefour is also planning to open at least 20 hypermarkets, which sell food along with household items such as fridges and TVs, in China this year and beyond. It will soon open its 84th hypermarket, its seventh in Beijing and 1,000th in the world.

Reports, meanwhile, said the Halley family, which owns about 13 per cent of Carrefour, was seeking to sell its stake in the company.

Web site `boursier.com' cited banking sources as saying the family had mandated two banks to negotiate a sale.