Witzig Advisory Services will fully acquire Aditya Birla Retail

Samara Alternative Investment Fund-owned Witzig Advisory Services will fully acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (ABRL), which runs 'more' chain of stores, for an undisclosed sum, according to a regulatory filing.

In a BSE filing, RKN Retail Pvt Ltd, a part of the Aditya Birla group, said it along with Kanishtha Finance and Investment Pvt Ltd and ABRL have entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) with Witzig, to sell their combined stake of around 99.99 in ABRL.

RKN Retail said its board of directors at a meeting held Wednesday approved the sale of its entire 62.19 percent stake in ABRL to Witzig.

Subsequently, the company jointly with Kanishtha Finance and Investment Pvt Ltd and ABRL, entered into an SPA with Witzig, to sell their combined stake aggregating to 99.99 percent in ABRL, it added.

Meanwhile, RKN Retail said that the deal would be subject to regulatory approvals from various authorities.

"The aforesaid sale of shares of ABRL would be subject to the terms of the SPA and regulatory approvals," said RKN Retail.

ABRL, part of USD 44.3 billion Aditya Birla Group, operates two different store formats - Supermarket and Hypermarket under the brand 'more'.

When contacted, Aditya Birla group declined to comment over the value of the deal.

It operates 523 supermarkets across the country and some in-house labels as — VOW, Kitchen's Promise and Feasters.

The other brands include Prarthana, More Choice, More Daily, More Life, Bluearth, Karinee, Kruff, Inches, TRU, Chatter Kids and Yo.

ABRL had ventured into food and grocery retail sectors in 2007 with the acquisition of Trinethra Super Retail and subsequently expanded its presence across the country.

It is the fourth largest supermarket chain in the country after Future Group, Reliance Retail, and D-Mart.