Premji acquires 5% in Trent

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji’s, PremjiInvest, has bought nearly half the shares on offer in

the recently concluded qualified institutional placement (QIP) of the Tata group’s listed retailer Trent. This after PremjiInvest picked up 7 per cent stake in Fabindia recently. PremjiInvest has invested Rs 122 crores in Trent which runs the Westside chain and the Star Bazaar chain according to a Trent disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on March 16. This makes PremjiInvest have 4.91 per cent, the second largest shareholder after the Tatas who has 28.6 per cent in Trent.

PI Opportunities Fund-I bought 1.33 million of the 2.74 million shares on offer in the QIP. PI Opportunities Fund- I is a venture capital fund registered with Sebi. For the nine months till December 2011, Trent reported a 21.6 per cent increase in sales to Rs 659.32 crores although its net profit slipped by 18.5 per cent to Rs 27.74 crores. Trent owns and manages a string of retail chains in formats such as Westside (lifestyle retail), Star Bazaar (hypermarket chain), Landmark (books and music chain) and Fashion Yatra (family fashion store). Trent also has a joint venture with Spain’s Inditex group to develop Zara Stores in India.

According to its QIP prospectus, Trent said it plans to use the funds for expansion, including setting up of retail stores and investments in certain retail real estate developments. The funds would be also utilised to meet working capital requirements.