Hong Kong's AEA eyes India's 'booming' retail
Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 18:30 IST
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New Delhi: Hong-Kong-based AEA Holdings is planning to invest almost $2 billion in India's "booming" retail sector. "India's retail sector is booming and we are planning to invest about $2 billion here as we have been studying the growth of India's retail sector and I think this is the right time," Bill Owens, chief executive and chairman of AEA Holdings Asia, told IANS. AEA Holdings has been formed after a merger between AEA Investors of New York and Hong Kong's AETOS capital. The firm primarily deals with investments in commercial real estate and hedge funds. AEA owns 20 companies whose consolidated revenue for the financial year 2005-06 was $500 billion. Owens, former CEO of Nortel Networks, global IT networking major and also one of the board members of Wipro and Germany's DaimlerChrysler, reiterated: "India is a high growth and very matured market and we intend to do long-term business here. However, the pricing of real estate is very high here and it is rising due to speculation. According to latest statistics, India is the ninth largest retail market in the world with organised retailing growing at the rate of 30 percent per annum. "We want partners in India to do business with, we have a lot of capital and are on a constant lookout for every investment opportunity." The company has a major presence in the Chinese market where it has done investments to the tune of $400 million and planning to invest additional $100 million by this year.
Source: IANS
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