By IANS,
Mumbai : Maxwell Industries Ltd, promoters of Indian innerwear major VIP Group, is planning to diversify into the lifestyle and wellness segment, the company’s chairman and managing director Sunil Pathare said here Friday.
The Mumbai-based textile firm is planning to enter the luxury spa industry by early 2009, Pathare said adding that “the plan is in its nascent stages. As of now, we are looking at various options and short listing locations.”
Pathare told IANS on the sidelines of a conference: “We may even have a marketing tie-up with some group. It’s too early to speak about the plan now.”
To finance the investment required for the new venture, the company may opt for an equity or debt route or a combination of both, Pathare said. The group is also trying to expand its innerwear business by acquiring various foreign brands. The group is in talks with two leading European premium innerwear makers for a joint-venture or a marketing tie-up, he said.
VIP also plans to introduce an exclusive children’s brand and open 300 stores across the country during the next five years.
“Most of them would be franchise outlets in tier-two and -three cities and a few would be exclusive showrooms catering to our premium brands in big markets like Mumbai and Delhi,” he said.
The Pathare and Reddy families of VIP group parted ways earlier this week ending their thirty-five year old association.
The group was founded by two MSEB engineers J. Pathare and L. Jaipal Reddy. After the split, the Pathares with a shareholding of 63.57 percent have majority control of the listed company.