MxMIndia

Tag: Reliance ADA Group

  • After eight years at top positions at Reliance ADAG, Sanjay Behl joins Raymond Ltd as CEO for its lifestyle biz that includes textiles, apparel and retail.

    Sanjay Behl joins Raymond as CEO – Lifestyle Businesses

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sanjay Behl

    Sanjay Behl has joined Raymond Limited as Chief Executive Officer – Lifestyle Business, which comprises the organization’s core businesses, namely Textiles, Apparel and Retail. Having worked across diverse industries such as consumer goods and services, Mr. Behl brings with him a wealth of experience in business leadership and operational management.

     

    He has joined Raymond from Reliance ADA Group where he held leadership positions over the last eight years. His last assignment at Reliance ADAG was as National Head – Sales & Distribution at Reliance Communciations.

     

    Prior to that, for nearly eight years, he was President, Brand and Marketing with the group and for a short while he also wore the hat of CEO, Reliance DTH and IPTV.

     

    Having started his career with Hindustan Unilever, Mr Behl has also worked with Nokia at Asia-Pacific and Global levels.

     

    Said Mr Behl on his joining the textiles major, “I am delighted to join the Raymond team and am inspired to begin my innings in this ever-evolving textile industry. Rapid changes in consumer aspirations coupled with growing discretionary spend on lifestyle goods pose a tremendous opportunity for the market leading and highly respectable brand portfolio at Raymond, both in ‘Ready-to-Stitch’ textile fabric and ‘Ready-to-Wear’ branded apparel segments.”

     

     

     

  • Recent media reports had suggested an equity infusion by Cinepolis, the world's fifth largest multiplex operator with more than 2,500 screens, into Big Cinemas

    Cinepolis in talks to pick stake in Big Cinemas

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mexican multiplex operator Cinepolis is in talks to pick up a significant stake in Reliance ADA Group’s Big Cinemas and later combine its Indian operations with that of Anil Ambani’s multiplex chain, a person involved in the negotiations said

     

    “Cinepolis wants to buy a meaningful stake in Big Cinemas,” the person told ET. The companies will consider merger of operations if the equity deal goes through, the person added on condition of anonymity.

     

    Recent media reports had suggested an equity infusion by Cinepolis, the world’s fifth largest multiplex operator with more than 2,500 screens, into Big Cinemas and a strategic alliance to acquire some of the latter’s cinema halls.

     

    Cinepolis India Joint Managing Director Deepak Marda denied any agreement to merge operations. “We continue to explore synergies with various multiplex operators, including the Reliance ADA group. But we have no such agreement in place,” he said in an email reply to a query. Mr Marda added Cinepolis is exploring good investment opportunities in the cinema exhibition space, including acquisition of companies.

     

    Reliance ADA Group officials refused to comment.

     

    Cinepolis entered India in 2009 and has so far launched 32 screens. Mr Marda said the company has signed contracts to set up more than 400 screens across various cities. An industry source, who did not want to be named, said Cinepolis is talking to other screen operators besides Big Cinemas and that some other acquisitions are likely to fructify faster.

     

    Cinepolis is getting aggressive in India because valuations in the business are dropping to more realistic levels from three years ago when deals happened at very high prices, the person said. “This is the perfect time to make acquisitions.”

     

    Such transactions take a long time to get finalised because the companies need to sort out contractual obligations with builders who lease cinema halls to the screen operators, the person said.

     

    Big Cinemas, the exhibition arm of Reliance MediaWorks, is the biggest movie hall operator in the country with more than 250 screens. It has over 500 screens worldwide.

     

    Other big players in the multiplex space include PVR Ltd, Inox Leisure and Fame, in which Inox has taken a majority stake.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved