There doesn’t seem to be anything official here, so you can make of this what you will. But in the past few days, a rumor has spread around the industry that Gitanjali, the Indian company that owns Samuels and Rogers, is interested in buying Zale.
So I reached out to Gitanjali USA’s Nehal Modi, and he responded with what I think is safe to characterize as a non-denial:
I’ve always maintained that the economic and industrial logic of a vertically integrated retail jewelry chain has been proven with Samuels/ Rogers resulting in a very profitable business model….and now is the time for us to scale up in a big way. Zales is a fantastic brand with great management that have turned the company around.
That being said, at this point any sort of a play is conjecture. It would be a great integrated business. That’s all I can say.
Zale spokeswoman Roxane Barry says: “It is the company’s policy to not comment on rumors.”
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