Realty firm Prestige group set to enter retail business

Bangalore-based developer Prestige Estates Projects Ltd will diversify into retail with a department store brand that will be launched in three months. The group will initially invest about Rs300 crore in the retail venture and set up stores in malls it owns in Bangalore before taking the brand pan-India, said Irfan Razack, chairman of the Prestige group. “Retail is a cash cow, if you know what you are doing and how to sell,” Razack said at the sidelines of an event in Chennai on Wednesday, without disclosing more details. “We will (allocate) maybe 60,000 sq. ft in our malls (in Bangalore) and then take it to other cities where we do not have properties.” Prestige, which has real estate projects in the hospitality, residential, retail and commercial sectors, expects turnover from the proposed retail venture to touch Rs 1,500 crore in five years. The group posted revenue of Rs 1,466 crore in 2010-11, but given the current economic outlook there may be a dip this fiscal year, said Razack, without elaborating. Razack welcomed the government's decision to open up FDI in the retail sector. source: http://www.realtyplusmag.com/rpnewsletter/Fullstory_Newsletter.asp?news_id=18178&cat_id=1