Rocket Internet’s selling 2 really big online brands to the Future Group

World famous incubator Rocket Internet, based in Berlin, Germany, runs a string of consumer internet companies in India. However, in a first of its kind sale of property, it is likely to sell the online furniture retailer FabFurnish to the Future Group, led by Kishore Biyani.

Not only this, it also wants its fashion online retailer Jabong to be offloaded to the Future Group in a bid to reduce losses; however, Biyani has not shown much interest in the business.

"The two are in definite talks to close the FabFurnish deal. Sale of Jabong is still at the proposal stage and no talks have started on it yet," said one of the persons cited above. Jabong, however, has denied the news of being up for sale.

The company has "seen strong operating performance in recent months and has strengthened its management team with a number of hires," a Jabong spokesperson told ET. "Jabong is not in discussions, at any stage, with anyone, regarding a sale of the company. The company's largest see-through investor reiterated earlier this month its commitment to the business and the Indian market."

The sources also cited that Fab-Furnish could be sold for $5-10 million, however the figure was not independently verified.

If things go as per Rocket Internet’s plans, it will be the first time that Biyani would acquire an online retail business. He has, in the past, been a strongly outspoken critic of the country's ecommerce industry.

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