The Xander backed, Singapore headquartered,Virtuous Retail has announced the appointment of S Raghunandan as the Chief Executive Officer of its Indian subsidiary, Virtuous Retail Services. Raghunandan, with over 30 years of experience, was last associated with the Prestige Group where he was responsible for the shopping center business including the Joint Venture with CapitaMalls Asia as CEO Retail for the past six years. He has also worked with DHL Worldwide Express as Country Head of India, with RPG as Vice President, Operations of Foodworld, and with the K Raheja Group as CEO of HyperCity.
Commenting on the announcement, Anupam Yog, International Director, Marketing, Virtuous Retail, said: “Raghu’s extensive leadership experience in the retail industry is a strategic fit with Virtuous Retail’s master retailer approach. Along with VR Surat, our inaugural flagship center in Gujarat, which opened in 2013, our rapidly maturing portfolio includes Flagship Centers in Bangalore and Chennai which will open in 2015-16. We are very pleased that Raghu will guide the company through this period of accelerated growth.”
Rohit George, Principal at Xander, added: “With his background in retail and retail real estate, we believe Raghu is uniquely positioned to lead Virtuous Retail into new markets such as the Delhi-National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, as we grow the portfolio through acquisitions and joint ventures.”
Established in 2007, Virtuous Retail is an institutionally owned developer-operator of community oriented premium lifestyle shopping centers in India. Its pan-India portfolio includes prime city centre locations in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Kolkata. Virtuous Retail is sponsored by The Xander Group, a global investment firm, which has committed US$ 600 MM of equity to the platform.
