Fast Forms Business Alliance with Shoe Retailer View

Fast Retailing Co., the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, said Thursday that it will form a business and capital alliance with shoe retailer View Co., which is strong in women's shoes, as it looks to boost its shoe business.

Fashion firm Fast Retailing will buy 2,533,000 new shares View plans to float under a third-party allotment scheme, or a 33.4% stake in the Osaka-based company, for 2.2 billion yen on 13 November.

According to Fast Retailing President Tadashi Yanai, current size of the nation's shoe market is 1 trillion yen, it would expand to about 2 trillion yen if latent demand is cultivated.

As part of the business cooperation, Fast will provide View knowhow on chain store operations and help the shoe retailer develop new products and systems for online shopping.

In the business year through August, Fast Retailing, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, booked 40.4b yen in group net profit on sales of 448.8b yen.

Source: http://www.Shoemap.com

Date: 27 Oct, 2006