Media company Percept and Kishore Biyani's Future Group have formed a 50:50 joint venture, Bollywood Retail, to sell Bollywood merchandise. They would invest Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) initially.
The JV will be set up in about 8-10 cities, including Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Indore, Jaipur, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai. The investment is expected to provide significant synergies to the Future Group, which has a large advertisement budget and aligns well with the group's businesses such as Future Media, which has interests in media and advertising.
Recently, Indivision, the private equity arm of Future Capital, picked up 10 per cent in Percept for nearly Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million). The deal valued Percept at Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion).
Commenting on the JV, Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said, "Through this partnership with Percept, we hope to bring a unique touch and feel of the Bollywood