FUTURE MAY SELL SOME BRANDS TO REPAY LENDERS

MUMBAI: Kishore Biyani’s Future group plans to sell some of its in-house brands as the retail-focused group faces pressure from lenders to reduce debt, two people aware of the development said. Some of the prominent in-house brands of the cashstrapped group include Cover Story under its apparel retail business Future Lifestyle Fashion Ltd and Tasty Treat under its snacks unit Future Consumer Ltd. The group is planning to unlock value in some of these in-house brands, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. “A lot of their in-house brands generate strong revenues and have great brand recall. So these are assets that the group thinks can be leveraged to help it reduce debt of group companies,” one of the two people cited above said, adding that the group is in the process of hiring investment banks to manage the sale of these brands. In a recent report, credit rating agency Care Ratings also said Future Lifestyle Fashion is exploring various options to tide over debt issues, including selling some of its brands. An email sent to a spokesperson at Future group remained unanswered.