Spanish clothing major Inditex is stepping up its India presence by acquiring additional stake in its joint venture with Trent for its Zara brand. Sources in the know say that the shareholding of Inditex will likely touch 80% from 65% after the Spanish company made a `146-crore buyback offer last week. The Spanish company already has an 80% stake in its second JV with Trent for its Massimo Dutti brand. Both Trent and Inditex were not immediately available for comment.
On Friday, Trent had disclosed to the stock exchanges that it had received a buyback offer of `15,421.85 per share for 94,900 equity shares in Inditex Trent Retail India (ITRIPL), which runs the Zara business in the country, from the Spanish major. Trent has a 34.94% stake in the JV, while Inditex has a 65.06% stake in the firm.
Trent did not disclose what its shareholding would be post the buyback but did say that its board had approved tendering of the 94,900 equity shares held by it in the JV to its Spanish partner. The buyback was also subject to approval by ITRIPL.
The current buyback offer will be the second such after Inditex increased its shareholding in ITRIPL via a similar route in August 2024. At that time, it had picked up a 14.06% stake for Rs 105.08 crore from Trent, taking its stake from 51% to 65.06% in ITRIPL. Trent’s stake, meanwhile, came down from 49% to 34.94% in the firm.
In the JV for the Massimo Dutti brand, on the other hand, Inditex increased its shareholding from 51% to 80% in March 2025, acquiring 29% stake from Trent for Rs 20.75 crore. Trent now has a 20% stake in Massimo Dutti India (MDIPL), down from 49% earlier. MDIPL runs three stores of Massimo Dutti in the country, while ITRIPL runs 22 Zara stores in the country, down from 26 stores earlier.
Inditex’s efforts to consolidate its position in its JVs with Trent come when it is introducing more of its brands into the country. At the same time, Trent has been doubling down on its own brands – Zudio and Westside – taking overall store count to 1,101 stores in Q2FY26 from 803 stores a year ago. Zudio and Westside contributed about 264 to the new additions in Q2, while 34 stores came from new formats such as Burnt Toast, a youth-centric retail brand, launched during the quarter, and other lifestyle concepts.
Trent has also said that its investment in the two JVs with Inditex are “financial” and not “strategic” in nature.
Inditex, meanwhile, launched its third brand Bershka in India earlier this year, through a wholly-owned entity called Bershka Retail, opening a store at the Phoenix Palladium mall in Mumbai.
This came alongside an online debut of the brand in the country. The retailer has also set up Zara Home Retail India as a 100% subsidiary, with plans to launch an online and offline footprint in the domestic market.
In September, Bershka debuted on e-commerce platform Myntra to get access to its 70-million-plus monthly active audience and 21 million Gen Z users.