Primus Retail acquires Weekender for Rs 95 crore

Bangalore-based retail group Primus Retail has acquired the Weekender youth clothing brand in a from its owner, Jagadish Hinduja, who also owns Gokaldas Images, in a transaction valued at approximately Rs95 crore.

Weekender has a licensee arrangement with Disney and Warner Brothers has more than 50 stores with an annual business of Rs45 crore.

The acquisition of Weekender enhances the product portfolio of Primus, which operates exclusive stores and factory outlets for Adidas and Nike. In addition it also retails MTV gear to around 3,000 retail points in the country.

V Balaji Bhat, CEO, Primus Retail, said the acquisition would expand Primus'' retail network and portfolio of brands, allowing it to consolidate its position in the apparel and small format retail business.

Primus says it will renovate the existing weekender stores and expand it the next 12 months. Primus is believed to have outlined an aggressive expansion strategy for Weekender that includes100 Weekender outlets over the next one year and take make the brand available in its factory outlets and around 500 small stores the

Balaji said that Primus wanted to grow the brand more than 100 per cent over the next 18 month.

Primus currently has more than 150 retail stores across 40 cities.