Mukesh Ambani’s RIL receives Rs 5,550 crore from KKR for Reliance Retail Ventures; RIL shares fall

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday informed that it has received Rs 5,550 crore from global investment firm KKR for its retail business, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL). RIL shares were trading  0.71 per cent lower at Rs 2,268.15 apiece, as compared to a 0.45 per cent fall in the S&P BSE Sensex. American buyout firm had made the investment for an exchange of 1.28 per cent equity stake in RRVL. “Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, today received the subscription amount of Rs 5,550 crore from Alyssum Asia Holdings II Pte. Ltd. (KKR) and allotted 81,348,479 equity shares to KKR,” RIL informed exchanges on October 15.

The deal, which was announced last month, valued Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. Recently, Reliance Industries has secured Rs 5,512.5 crore investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for retail business. In a span of less than one month, the oil-to-telecom has raised a total of Rs 37,710 crore in exchange of 8.48 per cent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL).  The firm has on-boarded over half a dozen global companies including Silver Lake, KKR, General Atlantic, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co, GIC, TPG and ADIA.

This was the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries as earlier this year, KKR invested Rs 11,367 crore in the RIL’s digital arm Jio Platforms. Analysts at Angel Broking maintained their positive view on Reliance Industries Ltd. and expect that the digital and the retail business will be the future growth drivers for the company. “We continue to maintain our buy rating on Reliance Industries with a target of Rs 2,543,” said Jyoti Roy – DVP- Equity Strategist, Angel Broking Ltd.

Mukesh Ambani’s retail business Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd has bagged a total Rs 13,050 crore for an equity exchange of 3.03 per cent in the company, so far.