IndiaRetailBiz

“The rebranding along with the acquisition is a significant move to take our interest in the wellness retail space to the next level.” — Sunil Godhwani, CEO and Managing Director, Religare Enterprises.

Fortis Healthworld, a Shivender Singh-led, pharmacy and wellness retail chain, owned by Religare Group (erstwhile owners of Ranbaxy group) has decided to re-brand itself as a health and wellness company with ‘wider’ range of services.

The rebranded entity to be known as Religare Wellness will offer a wider range of services.

“We intend extending the brand values and brand equity to various services within our promoter group, wellness retail being one of them,” Godhwani said. “Idea is to position stores as holistic, wellness retail destinations operating through different formats,” added Godhwani.

The rebranding of the company has been accompanied by acquisition of 27-stores strong CRS Health retail chain, which has a significant presence in the South and the West. This acquisition will take total number of wellness stores under Religare management to more than 100. This will also spread the geographical footprint of the merged entity from North India to South and West, including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The aquisition of the retail stores of CRS Health together with four warehouses is believed to have taken place at the valuation of Rs 15 crore. Acquisition and integration of CRS Health with the Religare Wellness brand is expected to be completed within the next 30 days.

It should be noted that the Singh family, after sell-off of Ranbaxy Pharma to Daiichi of Japan, the group is trying to promote all its activities, including financial services, under the brand name of Religare.