RIL share price rises as General Atlantic to invest in retail arm

Reliance Industries (RIL) share price added 1 percent in the early trade on September 30 after private equity firm General Atlantic Partners decided to invest Rs 3,675 crore in Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of the company.

This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 lakh crore. General Atlantic’s investment will translate into a 0.84 percent equity stake in Reliance Retail Ventures ((RRVL) on a fully diluted basis, a company release said.

“I am pleased to extend our relationship with General Atlantic as we work towards empowering both merchants and consumers alike, and ultimately transforming Indian Retail," said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries.

This is the third deal sealed by Reliance Retail in as many weeks and the second investment by General Atlantic in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries following a Rs 6,598.38 crore investment in Jio Platforms, the digital arm of the oil-to-retail conglomerate, earlier this year.

Reliance Retail is seeing a growing interest from overseas investors and has been raising funds at a sprinter’s pace in the past few weeks. India’s biggest brick-and-mortar retail business collected a combined Rs 13,050 crore in the past few weeks from private equity giant Silver Lake Partners and US buyout firm KKR & Co in exchange for 1.75 percent and 1.28 percent stakes, respectively.

At 0919 hours, Reliance Industries was quoting at Rs 2,266.75, up Rs 21.90, or 0.98 percent on the BSE.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.