Reliance Retail scores Rs. 3,675cr from General Atlantic: Details here
What's the story
The retail venture of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is going all guns blazing to take on Amazon and Walmart in India.
Just a few weeks back, the company acquired the businesses of Future Group, and now, it has secured capital from US growth equity firm General Atlantic.
Here is all you need to know about it.
Deal
General Atlantic to take 0.84% stake in Reliance Retail
Under the agreement, announced on Wednesday, General Atlantic will be investing Rs. 3,675 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) to take a 0.84% stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.
The investment values RRVL at a pre-money equity value of Rs. 4.285 lakh crore, the companies said in the statement announcing the deal.
Investment
Second investment by General Atlantic in RIL
Notably, this is the second investment from General Atlantic in a business owned by Reliance Industries.
Earlier this year, the equity firm, which has also backed Unacademy and BYJU's, had invested Rs. 6,598.38 crore in RIL's Jio Platforms for a 1.34% stake.
As for Reliance Retail, it has earlier raised Rs. 13,050 crore from Silver Lake Partners and KKR & Co.
Talks
Reliance has been in talks for RRVL investments
The development comes as Reliance Industries continues talks with investors to dilute stake in its retail unit, which controls over 12,000 physical stores, a few online platforms, and sells a wide variety of products.
The company plans to use its physical retail network to power its JioMart grocery-delivery platform and enlist millions of Kirana shops for last-mile delivery.
JioMart is available in 200 cities.
Goal
Plan to take on Amazon, Flipkart
With this and future investments, Reliance will be scaling up its JioMart play and expand the platform into categories like fashion, pharmacy, and electronics.
This will eventually enable the company to take on Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart in the booming e-commerce category.
India's retail sector is expected to grow annually at 9-11% and reach $1.3 trillion by 2025, up from $700 billion in 2019.
Comment
Pleased to extend our relationship with General Atlantic: Mukesh Ambani
Speaking on the latest deal, Reliance Industries' MD Mukesh Ambani said, "I am pleased to extend our relationship with General Atlantic as we work toward empowering both merchants and consumers, and ultimately transforming Indian Retail."
He added, "We look forward to leveraging General Atlantic's extensive expertise at the intersection of technology and consumer businesses...as we create a disruptive New Commerce platform to redefine retail."