Fast Retailing Eyes Growth

Fast Retailing Co. (Tokyo), operator of Japanese retailer Uniqlo, is said to be eyeing acquisitions with plans to spend as much as $11 billion to broaden its global reach, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Chairman and ceo Tadashi Yanai, who founded the cheap-and-chic clothing empire in 1984, told The Journal that strategy, rather than organic growth, would be necessary to drive his goal of transforming Uniqlo into the world's leading global apparel retailer.
“For a company like ours, it's not unusual to spend 1 trillion yen (about $11 billion) or more,” he said adding, “We could grow organically, but it would take a long time.”

No specific targets have been released, but Yanai says he prefers bigger companies that would accept Fast Retailing's management philosophy. In 2005, the Japanese retailer purchased the Princesse tam.tam lingerie brand, followed by French Comptoir des Cotonniers in 2006. The company’s $900 million unsolicited bid in 2007 to acquire upscale retailer Barneys New York failed.

The retailer plans to open stores in Shanghai and Moscow this year, and is reported to be looking at a store in India within the two to three years.

Fast Retailing reported its net profit rose 14 percent for the year ended in August, and sales were up 17 percent.