S Kumars plans to list Reid & Taylor in 2-3 years

Nitin Kasliwal, MD, S Kumars said that he plans to list Reid & Taylor in the next two to three years and SKNL's subsidiary Brandhouse Retail Ltd would be listed in the next two to three weeks. 

Q: Are you still looking to list Reid & Taylor though or is that plan on hold?
 
A: We will subsequently list Reid & Taylor over the next two-three years as the situation warrants. Right now Reid & Taylor is a private unlisted company and with GIC as our partner in Reid & Taylor. Going forward in the next two-three years we would have listing which would create another listed vehicle in the group as well. It would also have an open position for GIC though GIC is a very long-term investor in any case.

Q: Just a clarification on when Brandhouse Retail would be listed. Do you have a date on when it would start trading?

A: Brandhouse Retail is under final listing process and hopefully within next two-three weeks it should be listed.
 
Q: Is this going to be a preferred route going forward as well for SKNL, to look at getting private equity or equity into some of your other subsidiaries given the relatively lower valuation that the parent company trades at?
 
A: Going forward there are three-four things happening in SKNL itself, which is very important to know. Firstly, SKNL on a standalone basis has five other operating Strategic Business Units (SBU), which in the current year will add to about Rs 1,900 crore sales and more than 340 EBITDA which is substantial chunk in a substantial size business. Secondly, We are in the process of acquiring a few companies overseas which dovetail well with our existing SBUs in SKNL thereby adding a phenomenal back-end front-end synergy, giving us access to global markets and further improving production and profitability in the Indian context.  Thirdly, there is a possibility of a high value cotton fabric business and garment business in SKNL that are potential businesses to subsidiaries. Once you subsidiaries, you are able to raise money at the subsidiary level for further growth. This allows us not to dilute in SKNL but to dilute at the subsidiary level to some extent like we did in Reid & Taylor. So it’s a combination of things happening going forward in the next two-three years.     
 
Q: You are not under any PE negotiations for Brandhouse Retail either that might not be a path that you may look at equity infusion or money infusion coming in via the PE route rather than listing?
 
A: The listing of Brandhouse is happening as a consequence of the demerger from SKNL. It is a Court approved demerger and the listing is in an automatic process. The listing of Brandhouse is not being done to raise funds in Brandhouse. It’s being done because the textile business and the retail business are two separate types of businesses.
 
Earlier the retail business was housed in SKNL so we thought it’s prudent to have a separate entity because it is a very large retail business. It is currently operating over 400 stores going to 1,200 stores in the next two-years. So it has been thought prudent as a corporate entity to have it listed.
 
Of course going forward we will be bringing in an combination of funds in Brandhouse for further growth, which will be a combination of equity, debt and contribution coming in from internal accruals.