Set retail

NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Reliance Industries Ltd said on Wednesday U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners will invest US$1.02 billion in its retail business, helping the Mukesh Ambani-controlled company widen its lead as India's biggest retailer. The move also sets the stage for a three-way battle between Asia's richest man, Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc's Flipkart to rope in the Indian middle class customer, many of whom are newly adopting online purchases of food and groceries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, Reliance launched online grocery service JioMart. It has been aggressively building its retail presence through acquisitions, moving beyond its mainstay oil and gas business. Silver Lake will get a 1.75per cent stake in Reliance Retail, giving the business a pre-money equity value of 4.21 trillion rupees (US$57.14 billion), Reliance said https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/7de51cca-6592-4aa6-a06c-da43f7272cd5.pdf. Powered by … [Read more...] about Silver Lake to invest US$1 billion in retail arm of India’s Reliance

BEIJING: China's retail sales slipped in July, dashing expectations for a modest rise, as consumers in the world's second-largest economy failed to shake off wariness about the coronavirus, while the recovery in the factory sector struggled to gain momentum. Asian markets pulled back on Friday following the disappointing set of economic indicators, which raised concerns about the fragility of China's emergence from coronavirus. China's recovery had been gathering pace after the pandemic paralysed huge swathes of the economy as pent-up demand, government stimulus and surprisingly resilient exports propel a rebound. However, the data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed weaker-than-expected year-on-year industrial output growth and retail sales extending declines into a seventh straight month in July. That was slightly offset by firmer property investment, which showed recent stimulus was supporting construction activity. "Looking ahead, we expect a renewed … [Read more...] about China’s retail sales unexpectedly fall as consumer caution prevails

SINGAPORE: About 1,000 tenants in urban and suburban malls have been offered rental rebates by CapitaLand, Singapore’s biggest mall operator, the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) said on Thursday (Mar 5). The RAS, citing a letter issued to tenants on Wednesday, said CapitaLand has reviewed sales and footfall data for February and will “grant a rental rebate of 50 per cent on the fixed components of (tenants’) one-month gross rent". This will be disbursed in two tranches of 25 per cent each in April and May. There will be no change to the computation of additional rent, which will continue to be based on tenancy agreements, RAS added in a Facebook post. Tenants at CapitaLand malls already can use part of their security deposits to offset their rents for March, according to the property giant’s earlier announcements of relief measures which also include shorter operating hours and a one-time rental rebate of up to half-a-month for eligible tenants. RAS, which earlier … [Read more...] about CapitaLand offers tenants rental rebates; retail, F&B bodies urge other landlords to follow suit

AMAZON is set to open its first physical stores in the UK - and they won't have any checkouts. The online retailer will open the doors to its Amazon Go shops 'this week', after success in the US. The first shop will be located in Ealing in West London, the Mail on Sunday reports. There are no checkouts at Amazon Go stores, instead technology tracks the items you put in your basket. You're charged automatically when you leave via the Amazon Go app. The concept first launched in the US in 2018 and it was first reported last year that the shopping giant was eyeing as many as 30 locations in the UK for bricks and mortar stores . According to the newspaper report, staff are preparing to open the shop this week and there are coverings hiding the Amazon branded store front. The shops use "Just Walk Out" technology which means customers can avoid queueing. Shoppers must scan the supermarket's app on the gated turnstile when entering the stores. Cameras monitor … [Read more...] about Amazon set to open first checkout-free physical stores in the UK ‘this week’

NEW YORK: JCPenney Co Inc’s talks with landlords for a rescue from bankruptcy proceedings reached an impasse, pushing the department store to the brink of collapse unless it can reach a deal within days to be taken over by lenders. Discussions between the Plano, Texas-based retailer and a duo of mall owners Simon Property Group Inc and Brookfield Property Partners LP stalled over the weekend, Joshua Sussberg, a JCPenney lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, said during a Monday court hearing. The negotiations have dragged on in part over lease terms, according to people familiar with the matter. Sussberg did not detail that or any other specific sticking points during Monday’s hearing. Sussberg said lenders were still prepared to rescue the 118-year-old company and more than 70,000 jobs depending on negotiations over the next 10 days. A lawyer for the lenders, Andrew Leblanc of Milbank LLP, said there were “lots of hurdles” to reaching such a deal, describing negotiating an … [Read more...] about JCPenney sale talks stall, pushing retailer to brink