Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has finally acquired the famed UK toy seller,
Hamleys, after rounds of negotiations with Chinese fashion retailer C banner.
The company, through its subsidiary
Reliance Brands Ltd, signed an agreement to pick up a 100 percent stake in the toy retailer from C Banner International Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company, Reliance said in a statement late on Thursday.
The development was first reported by the website Moneycontrol.com. Reliance Brands operates the largest number of foreign labels in India with about four dozen in its stable through both joint ventures and master franchise agreements.
Hamleys reported a loss of £9.2 million for the year ended December 2018 after declaring a profit of £1.7 million the year before. In 2015, Chinese retail group C Banner International Holdings acquired Hamleys from Ludendo Enterprises UK Ltd.
C Banner did not respond to an email seeking comment. Hamleys and others have been having a tough time in their home markets amid a challenging environment for high-street brick-and-mortar retailers.
Hamleys has about 130 stores globally and 87 of them are in India with Reliance planning to add more this year.
Reliance plans to launch an ecommerce marketplace later this year that will sell everything from food , fashion to toys.