RIL bags another cheque for Reliance Retail; KKR to invest Rs 5,550 crore in Mukesh Ambani’s firm

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries announced that global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 5,550 crore into in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. The deal values Reliance Retail at Rs 4.21 lakh crore. KKR’s investment will translate into a 1.28 per cent equity stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd on a fully diluted basis. So far this month, Mukesh Ambani’s retail business has received a total Rs 13,050 crore for an equity exchange of 3.03 per cent in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. However, this is the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Earlier this year, KKR invested Rs 11,367 crore in the RIL’s digital arm Jio Platforms.

Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India’s fastest-growing and most profitable retail business serving close to 640 million footfalls across India. Through the New Commerce strategy, Reliance Retail will enable the merchants to use technology tools and an efficient supply chain infrastructure to deliver a superior value proposition to their own customers. “I am pleased to welcome KKR as an investor in Reliance Retail Ventures as we continue our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian Retail ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians,” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. Ambani also added saying that KKR
has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years.

KKR has a long history of building leading global technology and digital transformation enterprises in areas of consumer retail and eCommerce, such as investments in Epic Games, OutSystems, Internet Brands, Go-Jek and Voyager Innovations. Currently, the firm has approximately $5.1 billion in private equity investments across more than 15 Indian companies, including Jio Platforms, JB Chemicals, Max Healthcare, Eurokids International and Ramky Enviro Engineers. “Reliance Retail’s new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers move to shopping online and the company offers tools for Kiranas to be a critical part of the value chain,” said Henry Kravis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of KKR.

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Retail and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels. While Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP acted as financial advisor to KKR.