Amazon-Samara Capital Take over Aditya Birla’s ‘more’ Retail Chain

Amazon and India’s Witzig Advisory Services (Samara capital’s alternative investment fund) acquires Aditya Birla group’s more retail chain. The deal was made on Wednesday, where Witzig Advisory Services Pvt Ltd is the lead buyer with a stake of 51% and Amazon will keep 49% of the stake.

The Rs. 4,200 crores deal will allow Amazon access to more than 500 stores across the country, albeit indirectly.  According to report, Amazon has also acquired a substantial stake in More’s back-end company RKN Retail.

As India’s fourth-largest food and grocery chain with over 500 stores, More was created in 2007 with the acquisition of South India’s retail chain Trinethra. More’s competitors include other retail chains such as Reliance Retail, DMart and Future Group.

The acquisition will help Aditya Birla Group to focus on their other key business like cement, finance, telecom, and metals.

Amazon India has been focusing and lifting up its business. For retailing its private label, the company might utilize More’s offline channel and for pickup and delivery point for customers it will use its network.

Till now, Amazon has been investing in India’s retail space for the second time. In September 2017, the e-commerce giant took 5% in department store chain Shoppers Stop for Rs 180 crores.