KOLKATA: After inking a joint venture with Office Depot, Reliance
Retail is about to ink another major partnership to strengthen its
office products and services offering. The retail major will soon
enter into a 51:49 JV with the US-based $6.3-billion Avery Dennison
Corp, a global leader in labelling, office automation & consumer
products and retail information services.
The JV will provide Avery Dennison's products and services directly to
business customers in India, and will also sell them through Reliance
Retail stores. Plans are afoot to roll out standalone specialty stores
across the country, sources said. The deal is likely to be signed in a
month. When contacted, a Reliance Retail spokesperson declined to
comment. Despite repeated efforts, Avery Dennison India head Raj
Srinivasan could not be reached for comments.
Avery Dennison operates an Indian subsidiary and has three
manufacturing facilities in Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore. It has
invested more than $30 million in its Indian operations and employs
1,100-odd people. The company has a network of sales and distribution
centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
"The proposed Reliance Retail-Avery Dennison JV will combine the
global resources of Avery Dennison with local market knowledge and
resources of Reliance Retail to strengthen existing supply chain
network and enhance merchandising capabilities," sources said.
Sources said a top management team from Avery Dennison, including its
global CEO Dean A Scarborough, was recently in India to finalise the
partnership. The team had a series of discussions with Reliance Retail
president and CEO (lifestyle) Bijou Kurien and decided to float a JV.
Avery Dennison, globally, has a large presence in pressure-sensitive
labelling materials, retail tag, ticketing, branding systems and
office products. Its products are sold under two brands—Fasson and
Avery. The company has a strong presence in Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) solution. Analysts feel the JV might also help
Reliance Retail's in-house requirements in retail solutions such as
RFID implementation.
Apart from Office Depot, Reliance Retail has recently formed JVs with
optical retailer Pearle Europe and Britain's Marks & Spencer. The
retailer has identified the route of JVs with major foreign players to
grow and consolidate its operation.
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