After Amazon, Alibaba tries to shop at Spencer’s

KOLKATA: The RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPG) Group is in talks with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, along with Amazon, for divesting 10-15% stake in its arm Spencer’s Retail.

Spencer’s is likely to be listed on the bourses in November after its demerger from CESC. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved a demerger in March this year, but the formal sanction came in October.

It is learnt that the top management of the RPG Group has already had a few rounds of discussion with Alibaba and Amazon for a possible stake dilution.


This has assumed significance because the US e-commerce giant got a foothold in Aditya Birla Retail chain More through a structured deal in September this year. Amazon owns around 49% stake in Witzig Advisory, which bought More from the Birlas. Samara Capital, an Indian venture capital fund, holds 51% in Witzig.

When asked about the development, RPG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said that he does not comment on speculation. However, sources said that Alibaba executives were in Kolkata recently for a discussion on possible investment opportunities in Spencer’s. Retail industry insiders said that after the Amazon-More deal and Flipkart takeover by Walmart, Alibaba is actively looking for a retail footprint in India. The option for a pan-India presence is also limited. There are few players like Future Retail and DMart, along with Spencer’s, in the sector.

Spencer’s has 138 stores, mostly in the hyper-market format