Pantaloon ties up with Alpha for retail chain at airports
04 Oct 2006
Mumbai: Pantaloon Retail has tied up with Alpha Airports Group Plc for entering the travel, retail and food and beverage catering businesses at leading airports. The joint venture will be a 50:50 business partnership.
Pantaloon Retail and Alpha are currently holding discussions with the Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi airports for acquiring retail space.
The Mumbai airport is currently processing the request and is expected to agree to its proposals shortly. The government is, meanwhile, considering plans for the privatisation of Chennai and Kolkata airports as well. However, the two are yet to finalise the business model of the joint venture.
There are considerable opportunities in India for this new venture. India's top 10 airports cater to over 90 per cent of the country's total airline traffic. International traffic at India's airports has grown at 15 per cent while domestic traffic grew at 28 per cent last year, Alfa said in a release to the London Stock Exchange.
"India has the most exciting passenger growth and airport development worldwide and we are very pleased to have the largest retail group in India working with us in this partnership. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to leverage our strong position in the Indian subcontinent," said Alpha Airports Group CEO Peter Williams.
Alpha operates a duty-free shop at Cochin International Airport and has been in India since 2002. Alpha also has operations in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Alpha Airports Group Plc, one of the leading aviation support service companies, provides retailing and catering services to airlines and airports. Alpha has 6,900 employees in over 100 airlines worldwide and operates from over 200 outlets at 83 airports in 15 countries. It has an annual turnover of over $550 million.
Pantaloon Retail, the largest retailer in India with over 100 outlets across the country, has a turnover of over Rs1,980 crore ($440 million). Besides department stores and hyper stores, Pantaloon operates exclusive stores for home products and services, fashion, leisure, communications, electronics, food, and health and beauty.