Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd and US-based private equity firm TPG will invest a total of Rs 7,350 crore (about $1 billion) in the retail business of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd.
GIC has committed Rs 5,512.5 crore for a 1.22% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd while TPG will put in Rs 1,837.5 crore for a 0.41% stake, RIL said in separate statements.
GIC and TPG join Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Company and US-based PE firms Silver Lake Partners, KKR and General Atlantic in investing in Reliance Retail.
All these investors have struck the deals at Reliance Retail’s pre-money equity valuation of Rs 4.285 trillion.
Overall, RIL has raised Rs 32,197 crore (almost $4.4 billion) from these six firms and Silver Lake’s co-investors by selling stakes in the retail unit.
This is in addition to the more than $20 billion that RIL mobilised from 13 investors for its digital services unit Jio Platforms Ltd earlier this year. The list included Google, Facebook and all but GIC of the six investors in Reliance Retail.
RIL, India’s biggest company by market value, has been expanding its retail business as well as its telecom and digital services operations as it diversifies away from its core energy business.
Last month, the conglomerate agreed to acquire Future Group’s retail business in a multi-billion-dollar deal. It also recently bought a majority stake in online pharmacy Netmeds for Rs 620 crore.
Reliance Retail Ventures is the holding company of Reliance Retail Ltd, India’s largest bricks-and-mortar retailer. It reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 162,936 crore and a net profit of Rs 5,448 crore for the year ended March 31, 2020.
In June, RIL said it had become net-debt free through stake sales in Jio Platforms and a rights issue worth $7 billion. At the time, Ambani said strong investor interest in Jio Platforms and RIL’s consumer businesses would help the two units move towards a public listing in the next five years.
