Aditya Birla Retail, part of the $40-billion Aditya Birla Group, has acquired the Total Superstore business of Jubilant Agri & Consumer Products (a subsidiary of Jubilant Industries) in an all-cash deal. The amount involved has, however, not been disclosed.

The deal includes four Total Superstores hypermarkets in Bengaluru and will add to the 16 hypermarkets and 500-odd supermarkets under the More brand of Aditya Birla Retail.

Speaking to BusinessLine , Pranab Barua, Business Director for the Apparel & Retail Businesses at Aditya Birla Group, said: “Although we have a pan-India presence, our focus has been to grow our stores in the southern markets in places like Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

“At an operating level, we are almost there in terms of profitability and are cash-positive at a store level. The company should turn profitable in the next two years.”

Focus on South With the majority of its stores in the South, the acquisition of the Total Superstores business will give Aditya Birla Retail a chance to expand its footprint in the region.

Aditya Birla Retail currently has a sales turnover of ₹2,500 crore, with accumulated losses of nearly ₹5,000 crore. It started operations in 2007 with the acquisition of Trinethra Super Retail in the South, followed by Fabmall.

This acquisition follows close on the heels of the Group consolidating its apparel business into a ₹5,290 crore company under Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail through the merger of its group companies Pantaloon and Madura Garments.

According to Pankaj Jaju, Group Head at the Corporate Strategic Group of Axis Bank, the deal will “help the loss-making Aditya Birla Retail in scaling up and achieving profitability faster.”

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