India's Reliance says GIC, TPG to invest 73.5b rupees in retail arm

Bengaluru

INDIAN oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd said on Saturday that Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and global private equity firm TPG Capital invested a combined 73.50 billion rupees (S$1.4 billion) in its retail unit.

Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has secured more than US$2 billion in investments from global investors, including KKR & Co, Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala and Silver Lake Partners, in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd over the past few months.

GIC will invest 55.12 billion rupees for a 1.22 per cent stake, while TPG Capital Management will invest 18.38 billion rupees to own a 0.41 per cent equity stake in the retail arm, the company said.

The investments in Reliance Retail values the company at a pre-money equity value of 4.285 trillion rupees, Reliance added.

This is TPG Capital's second investment in Reliance. In June, the firm invested US$598 million in Reliance's digital unit Jio Platforms.

Mumbai-headquartered Reliance has approached investors in Jio Platforms about buying stakes in its retail arm, Reuters had reported in September.

Reliance, already India's biggest retailer with roughly 12,000 stores, forged a US$3.38 billion deal in August to acquire rival Future Group's retail business.

The conglomerate is also expanding its so-called new commerce venture, which ties neighbourhood stores to Reliance for online deliveries of groceries, apparel and electronics in a space currently dominated by Walmart Inc's Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc's Indian arm. REUTERS