Sanjiv Goenka in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Oct. 18: RPG Retail will float a public issue next fiscal to finance the group’s retail expansion plans.

“We are talking to merchant bankers now. The size of the issue has not yet been determined,” RPG Enterprises vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka said.

It has not yet been decided whether the IPO will be floated by Great Wholesale Club, the holding company of Spencer’s, or by RPG Retail itself.

However, Goenka is confident of an encouraging response to the issue.

Goenka is waiting for the retail business to record some profit before it enters the capital market. The retail business is yet to break even. However, the RPG vice-chairman is confident of a profit this fiscal.

The group will spend Rs 200 crore to fund the expansion plans of the retail outfit.

Goenka today launched the new corporate identity of RPG Retail. The group has decided to position all their retail formats (except MusicWorld) under one single brand ? Spencer’s.

In its new avatar, the company’s retail will have four formats ? Spencer’s Fresh, Spencer’s Daily, Spencer’s Super and Spencer’s Hyper.

Spencer’s Fresh will spread over 2,000 sq ft, Spencer’s Daily will cover 4000 to 7,000 sq ft, Spencer’s Super 8,000 to 15,000 sq ft and Spencer’s Hyper 25000 sq ft.

“We currently have 9 lakh sq ft of contracted space in our retail business. We would take this up to 20 lakh square feet by 2007,” Goenka said.

The group has three Spencer’s Super stores now. It will open nine more, of which seven will be in Delhi and the other two in Ameerpet and Aurangabad.

“We also plan to open six such stores in Calcutta,” added Goenka. RPG Retail’s focus will be on music and food. RPG Retail has also changed the 142-year-old logo of Spencer’s. Explaining the rationale behind the launch of the new Spencer’s logo, Goenka said Spencer’s is on the verge of a massive expansion in the north, east, west and south. The new identity will strongly support the innovative growth plan.