After weeks of negotiations and deliberations, investors and leading retail players are preparing to bid for the German wholesale major Metro Cash Carry s India operations. From the country s leading retailer Reliance to Thailand-based conglomerate Charoen Pokphand CP group and private equity player Lightspeed Venture Partners, Metro s India business has caught the attention of many leading business groups across the world, sources close to the developments have told Business Today.
Reliance Retail, which operates over 13,000 physical retail outlets across the country, is strategically well placed to acquire a major stake in Metro s India unit. The move will help boost its retail expansion plans that already spread across modern retail, stocking up local kiranas and e-commerce grocery deliveries. Metro Cash Carry India, which serves the licensed retailers and traders in the country with groceries and other daily consumable items, would help Reliance consolidate its back end supply chain. The group is aggressively expanding into the general trade segment, where it is supplying local groceries with fast moving consumer goods, FMCG products.
The Bangkok-headquartered CP group, which owns a controlling stake in Charoen Pokphand Foods, is one of the world s largest producers of shire, pork, poultry and many agri-based items and operates a leading cash carry business through Siam Marko. The group also operates one of the world's largest round-the-clock convenience store chain 7-Eleven. According to sources, CP Group's interest in Metro s India business will help it expand its cash carry business in the country, apart from supporting its 7-Eleven brand.
Sources BT spoke to said that Lightspeed Ventures, PE firm, has been approached by Metro AG and is evaluating its offer in association with a bunch of other companies to buy a stake.
Germany-based Metro Group, which owns Metro Cash Carry India, is looking for a partner to divest a part of its stake in the local unit or completely exit the local market, according to sources.