Mumbai, Sept. 27: Arvind Lifestyle Brands, the subsidiary of Arvind Ltd, is acquiring the business operations of British fashion retailers Debenhams and Next, and American lifestyle brand Nautica in India from Planet Retail.

The acquisition of brand rights here in India will enable Arvind Lifestyle Brands to enter into the department store segment. It will also gain a toehold in the apparel specialty retail category apart from sportswear.

While Debenhams is an international department store group offering various products across women’s wear, men’s wear, children wear, lingerie, accessories, homeware and gifts, Next is a UK-based retailer offering fashion wear and accessories for men, women and children. It started its operations in India in 2006.

Nautica is a global sportswear lifestyle brand ranging from men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories.

Arvind has now formulated ambitious expansion plans following the acquisition. Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director of Arvind Ltd, said it was planning to increase the number of Debenhams stores in India from two to eight over the next three years and the number of Next stores from three to 12 over the same time frame.

Lalbhai said after the acquisition, the company was aiming to achieve a revenue of over Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years.

“With this move, we have taken a big step towards strengthening our position in the Indian fashion industry. These acquisitions will accelerate our growth and contribute to our vision of achieving sales of Rs 5000 crore,” he said.

Lalbhai said the sales target would come from a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. It is expected that while Rs 3000 crore would come from growing the business organically at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent, the rest would come through acquisitions, new brands launches and joint ventures.

Indicating that the company is looking to bring more international brands into the country, the Arvind group chief said that the acquisition of the business operations of Debenhams, Next & Nautica is the first major step in its inorganic growth strategy to cross the Rs 2000 crore revenue mark.

“We have a strong menswear portfolio, which will get further strengthened with Nautica. Debenhams & Next will substantially strengthen our position in womenswear and kidswear segment. We plan to achieve Rs 500 crore revenue over next five years from current Rs 70 crore by investing Rs 150 crore in to these three brands,” said J. Suresh, managing director & CEO of Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd.

Arvind Lifestyle Brand Ltd, which runs the value retail chain Megamart, has licensing relationships with international Brands that include Gant, Arrow, US Polo Association, Elle, Cherokee, Mossimo and Geoffrey Beene. It also has a joint venture with Tommy Hilfiger for the Tommy Hilfiger business in India.