Date of investment: November 2004

Trinethra was a leading grocery retail chain in the state of Andhra Pradesh, South India. It had 88 retail stores. Along with Trinethra, IVFA also acquired Fabmall Retail, a chain of grocery stores based in Bengaluru.

With IVFA, the combined operations expanded to more than 200 stores, with clear visibility of 400 stores in four southern states in India. Trinethra inducted high quality professional management team, developed significant focus on upgrading systems and processes and put in place a new integrated ERP system. As a result, gross margins improved significantly and inventory was reduced by half. The older stores were refurbished to align with the new brand identity.

Given Trinethra’s strong market position in South India, high quality management team, process & systems, it received significant acquisition interest from strategic players. In December 2006, IVFA sold the business to Aditya Birla Retail. Trinethra still continues to be the leading super market chain in South India.

• IVFA investment rationale >
  • Move
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  Grocery is the largest retailing category and very fragmented in India Opportunity to be a pioneer and leader in the category Supermarkets and convenience stores will play a big role in organized retailing and shall co-exist with hypermarkets Trinethra offers immediate scale and reduces the time to build a significant grocery player
• IVFA value addition >
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  Supported in attracting high quality management team Re-vamped process and systems and implemented ERP Launched new product categories (fruits and vegetables) Explored new formats (hypermarkets) Ensured highest levels of corporate governance