| Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL), the publisher of The Times of India and The Economic Times, is planning to offload its majority stake in music and electronic retail outlet Planet M.
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| A few private equity firms and investment houses have evinced interest in picking up stakes in Planet M. However, valuation of this one-stop shop for home entertainment is not yet finalised.
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| Planet M chief executive officer Ajay Mehra confirmed the development but declined to divulge any details. “Four players have approached us for picking up stakes in Planet M. We are now seriously evaluating the proposals. However, nothing has been finalised yet,” Mehra told Business Standard. “We will take a decision soon on offloading the stake,” he added.
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| Planet M is a retail chain of music and electronic home entertainment. It has full-fledged shops and shop-in-shops in 123 locations in 29 cities across India. It was launched with a 10,000 sq ft stores at the Times of India building in south Mumbai.
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| Mehra added that Planet M was going ahead with expansion plans, as it would set up stores in six more locations by December end.
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| According to market sources, Planet M is a profitable venture offering home entertainment products such as VCDs, DVDs and CD-ROMs, audio accessories for all age groups.
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| “The annual turnover of Planet M is over Rs 80 crore. It has been registering a growth of 35 per cent since the last three years. Planet M has over 2.5 lakh loyalty programme members across the country for various brands in the store,” sources said.
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| Since foreign direct investment (FDI) is not yet permitted in retail, the only option the promoter has at this point, is to sell stake to private equity firms, sources added. |
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