US private equity firm KKR will invest Rs. 5,550 crores in Reliance’s retail arm, giving the unit a pre-money valuation of Rs. 4,21,000 crores, the Indian conglomerate said on Wednesday.
KKR’s investment will translate to a 1.28 percent stake in Retail Ventures, according to Reliance.
Reliance, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has been looking to expand rapidly online to take on the likes of Walmart’s Flipkart and Amazon’s Indian arm.
Powered by Reliance’s Jio tech platform, the unit owns retail businesses as varied as grocery stores and fashion chains, and operates close to 12,000 stores across India.
Reliance, which has been on a fund-raising spree, had earlier raised $1.02 billion (roughly Rs. 7,505 crores) from US private equity firm Silver Lake for its retail business.
KKR in May invested $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 11,035 crores) in Reliance’s digital business, its biggest investment in Asia, as part of a funding round that saw the Indian company raise more than $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,47,150 crores) from investors including Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
KKR will make the investment from its Asia private equity funds.
Morgan Stanley acted as Reliance Retail’s financial adviser, while Deloitte was KKR’s financial adviser.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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