Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Future Group acquires Nilgiris

Nilgiris is a supermarket chain in South India. It is also one of the oldest supermarket chains in India with origins dating back to 1905 and hence its products are sold under the brand name of ‘Nilgiris 1905’. Unlike all other supermarkets and grocery shops in India, Nilgiris sells its own products among other brands. Kishore Biyani Future Group acquires the iconic brand. Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd., the food and FMCG arm of the Future Group, paid around Rs.300 crore for the acquisition.
Nilgiris operates a franchisee operated convenience store chain with 140 stores in key metros across the four states. Private equity firm Actis had bought 67 percent stake in Nilgiris in 2006. Apart from a wide assortment of products sold through its convenience store chain, Nilgiris also owns a portfolio brands in dairy, bakery, chocolates, and staples along with their manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru.

Bangalore based Nilgiris is an iconic brand that enjoys wide household recall in the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. This acquisition is synergistic as it enables strengthening and expanding of convenience stores through franchise model is an asset light model. It brings in new manufacturing capabilities and brands within the company as well.

Existing portfolio of brands of FCEL including Sunkist, Tasty Treat, Golden Harvest, Premium Harvest, Sach Ektaa, CleanMate, and CareMate, will be channelized through Nilgiris store network. It operates 8 distribution centres along with a fleet of vehicles, including refrigerated vehicles that cater to the supply of its own dairy, bakery, and chocolates brands to its network of stores. FCEL is a part of Future group that operates modern retail network in 102 cities and 40 rural locations through retail brands like Big Bazaar, Central, Foodhall, Brand Factory, among others as well as various consumer goods, logistics networks and infrastructure for the consumption sector in India. 

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