Hamleys toy store sold to Indian tycoon for £70m
India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has purchased London's iconic toy store Hamleys in a £70m deal.
Hamley's - the world's oldest toy store - is currently owned by Chinese footwear group C Banner International, which purchased the retailer from France's Ludendo Groupe for £100m in 2015. It will now become part of Ambani's Reliance Industries.
Like-for-like sales growth at the company’s UK core business was 3.5% last year - higher than the 2.7% figure for the market as a whole, but lower than C Banner had expected when it made the acquisition.
Hamleys reported a £9.2m loss last year, blaming Brexit and the threat of terrorism for the downturn.
Reliance Brands’ chief executive, Darshan Mehta, said Hamleys had "pioneered the concept of experiential retailing".
"The worldwide acquisition of the iconic Hamleys brand and business places Reliance into the frontline of global retail," he said. "Over the last few years, we have built a very significant and profitable business in toy retailing under the Hamleys brand in India."
Hamleys has 167 stores across 18 countries, of which 71 are run in India by Reliance in a partnership launched in 2008.