Future Group may raise money through IPO

India’s Sam Walton, Kishore Biyani is planning to come out with an Rs.4,000 crore IPO of his business group, Future Group sometime in September this year, according to a CNBC-TV18 report.

Biyani is also working on listing of his seamless mall format, Central (based on similar format as Selfridges, London and Macey’s, New York) and hive it from the currently listed Pantaloon Retail.

The news mentions that Central IPO will not get Pantaloon the required money, he may make Future Group as a whole new holding company. This holding company would have under it 9 subsidiaries, 8 joint ventures and 10 retail chains, thus giving it a handsome valuation owing to its presence in multiple retail formats.

There may also be a scenario in which Pantaloon Retail, which is the flagship company of Future Group would have two listed entities, existing Pantaloon Retail and Future Group which would have Central Malls and Home Solutions Retail (having Home Town, Collection i and E-Zone) under its umbrella.

Whatever happens to the plans but Future Group being the first organized retailer in India would remain a force to reckon with inspite of increasing competition and could easily scale through with the capital requirement plans.