Cortefiel group finds partner for India expansion, targets 60 openings by 2021

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Dec 12, 2016

Spanish fashion retailing group Cortefiel has been very busy internationally in 2016, having either opened stores in, or made agreements to expand into Mexico, Iceland, Russia and Tunisia. It has now found a partner to enter the Indian and Sri Lankan markets, after striking a deal with the Tablez Retail group for the opening of 60 Springfield and Women'Secret stores within five years in the two countries.

Tablez Retail is a newly created subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based group Tablez Food, specialised in retail and catering chains. Tablez Retail is keen to import and develop lifestyle and apparel retailers into India, and has recently signed a deal to deploy Toys "R" Us in the country. Tablez Food is part of the Abu Dhabi-based LuLu group, which operates a hypermarket empire in 21 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In an interview with The Economic Times of India, its managing director Adeeb Ahamed has recently described the group's objective of operating a portfolio of 8-10 retailers by end 2017-early 2018. According to Ahamed, the next brand could be "a cult New York cosmetics label."

For Cortefiel this is a significant deal indeed, with retail analysts forecasting an explosion in commercial real estate projects in India in the next few years. The first store issuing from the agreement is set to open inside a premium Bangalore shopping mall in April 2017.

Madrid-based Cortefiel group, while facing liquidity concerns, claims a presence in 89 countries with 1,447 directly operated stores and 648 franchised stores between its five retail brands: Cortefiel, Pedro del Hierro, Springfield, Women's Secret and Fifty Factory.