Reliance Industries buys ITC's menswear brand John Players for undisclosed amount

Reliance Industries Ltd said on Tuesday its unit Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) has acquired consumer goods company ITC Ltd’s menswear brand John Players. The acquisition would strengthen RRL’s readymade garments and accessories portfolio in the fashion and lifestyle retail space, Reliance told Reuters in an email. ITC sold the brand John Players and related trademarks and intellectual property to Reliance Retail as part of its restructuring plan, an ITC spokesperson said. [caption id=“attachment_3748019” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] RIL logo. Reuters image.[/caption] The two companies, however, did not disclose the financial details of the deal. The Economic Times earlier reported that Reliance bought the John Players brand and distribution rights through 750 stores, in addition to 65 exclusive franchise outlets, for an estimated 1.50 billion rupees ($21.79 million). Earlier this month, sources told Reuters that Reliance planned to grow the number of low-cost Reliance Trends fashion stores across India to 2,500 from 557 over the next five years and integrate them with its online business. Reliance plans to diversify into e-commerce and expand in fashion as the conglomerate’s billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani aims to grab a dominant share of Indian consumer spending in a struggle with rivals, particularly Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc’s Flipkart. Reliance shares climbed 1.6 percent as of 0602 GMT while those of ITC were 0.95 percent lower in Mumbai trading. (Disclosure - Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd)