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- US private equity firm KKR will invest $755 million in Reliance Retail, owned by India’s biggest company Reliance Industries, for a 1.2% stake.
- This is KKR’s second investment in Reliance Industries — in May it invested $1.5 billion in Jio Platforms, Reliance’s digital arm that includes India’s largest mobile network.
- The new investment values Reliance Retail at 4.21 trillion rupees ($57 billion).
- Reliance has courted investors about its retail arm in recent months, including Silver Lake and, reportedly, Amazon.
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US private equity firm KKR will invest $755 million in the retail unit of India’s biggest company, Reliance Industries, it said on Wednesday.
KKR’s investment for a 1.28% stake in Reliance Retail values the company at 4.21 trillion rupees ($57 billion), Reliance said.
This is KKR’s second investment in Reliance Industries — in May, it invested $1.5 billion Jio Platforms, Reliance’s digital arm, which includes India’s largest mobile network.
It means that investors have poured $1.78 billion into Reliance Retail within a month. Tech investor Silver Lake will invest $1.02 billion in Reliance Retail, it said on September 9, after making a $1.35 billion investment in Jio Platforms in May.
As India’s biggest retailer, Reliance Retail owns around 12,000 stores, including convenience shops, supermarkets, apparel stores, and electronics stores. Most are in India, but it also owns Hamleys in London — the oldest and largest toy shop in the world.
It turned over around $20 billion in the year to March 2020, an increase of 27% on the year before. Reliance struck a $3.38 billion deal last month to acquire rival Future Group's retail business.
Reliance lined up other investors
Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has been lining up investors for Reliance Retail in recent months.
Reliance Industries offered to sell Amazon a 40% stake in Reliance Retail in a deal that could be worth $20 billion, a source told Bloomberg News. Reliance later called this "speculative" and said it "cannot confirm or deny any transaction which may or may not be in the works."
It follows an investment drive for Jio Platforms, which includes India's largest mobile network operator as well as streaming services and a video-conferencing app. Reliance has received $20 billion this year from global investors, including Facebook, for Jio Platforms, and has approached many of those same firms about Reliance Retail, Reuters reported.
Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms launched e-commerce platform JioMart in May. It plans to expand beyond groceries and is becoming a major, fast-growing rival to Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart in India.