IKEA to bring in funding arm, expand retail biz

Swedish furnishing major IKEA, part of the Ingka Group, is inviting its investment arm – Ingka Investments to India, a senior company executive said during an interaction in New Delhi. The move suggests that the group is looking at India as a priority market.

The areas of investments being considered by Ingka Investments could range from taking stake in companies across sectors such as renewables, recycling, real estate, and software which synergise with IKEA’s broader retail requirements. The investment arm has so far made just one minority equity investment in India, in start-up LivSpace – a one stop shop for all interiors – to test the waters.

This is in line with Ingka’s decision to go for a second phase of expansion to be finalised this year, after it initially committed Rs 10,500 crore of foreign direct investment in 2012.

Ingka Investments has over 20 billion euros in financial assets under its management across the world.
With the development, the Ingka group would bring all three businesses-IKEA Retail, Ingka Centres and Ingka Investments- to India. The group owns 482 IKEA Stores in 31 countries.