Reliance Retail completes Rs 47,265 crore fundraise from 10.09% stake sale

Reliance Industries (RIL) on November 18 said it has completed the sale of about 10 percent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), its retail arm, to a clutch of foreign investors for Rs 47,265 crore.

The largest fundraise exercise in the sector was completed within two months.

Since September 25, the company has sold 10.09 percent stake in RRVL to private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, KKR, GIC, TPG and General Atlantic, as well as sovereign wealth funds Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and PIF.

"RRVL has received cumulative subscription amount of Rs 47,265 crore from the following financial partners and allotted 69.27 crore equity shares to them," the company said in a statement.

Silver Lake Partners bought 2 percent stake in two tranches for Rs 9,375 crore while KKR invested Rs 5,550 crore for 1.19 percent interest.

GIC and AIDA each bought 1.18 percent for Rs 5,512.50 crore. The UAE's Mubadala bought 1.33 percent stake for Rs 6,247.50 crore. Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, bought 2.04 percent stake for Rs 9,555 crore. Besides, General Atlantic invested Rs 3,675 crore for 0.78 percent stake and TPG put in Rs 1,837.50 crore for 0.39 percent interest.

Isha Mukesh Ambani, Director of RRVL and daughter of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, said the company looks forward to working with its partners after the phenomenal interest shown by them.

“We are proud to have such strong and reputed partners in RRVL. We feel honoured by the phenomenal interest shown by investors in our business and look forward to working with our partners to benefit from their experience and global connectivity. With our focus on New Commerce, we are committed to playing a transformational role in the Indian retail sector by empowering millions of merchants and micro, small and medium enterprises,” Isha Ambani said.

Reliance Retail Ltd, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India's largest, fastest-growing retail business serving close to 640 million footfalls at its 12,000 stores across the country. Its business includes supermarkets, consumer electronics chain stores, cash and carry wholesale business, fast-fashion outlets, and online grocery store JioMart.

Reliance Retail in May this year launched JioMart, an e-commerce venture, to connect mom-and-pop stores, called Kirana, with consumers.

With inputs from agencies.