ADIA joins Reliance Retail investor roster

ADIA will pay INR55.1 billion ($752 million) for a 1.2% stake, giving Reliance Retail Ventures a pre-money valuation of INR4.28 trillion. The company has now raised INR377.1 billion ($5.1 billion) in the space of four weeks from Silver Lake, KKR, General Atlantic, Mubadala Investment, GIC Private and TPG as well as ADIA, Reliance Industries said in a filing.

ADIA invested INR56.8 billion in Jio Platforms in June. Over the course of three months, financial and strategic players poured INR1.5 trillion into the business, which owns a range of apps, some nascent broadband and cable services, and India’s leading mobile carrier.

E-commerce is a key part of the Jio Platforms strategy, with JioMart serving as the online platform through which consumers order daily goods and a network of Jio-branded convenience stores handling the distribution. Reliance Retail, meanwhile, is looking to digitize the supply side of the retail industry. It plans to give 20 million small-scale merchants – many based in rural areas – access to technology that can improve their retail processes and supply chain infrastructure.

“Reliance Retail has rapidly established itself as one of the leading retail businesses in India and, by leveraging both its physical and digital supply chains, is strongly positioned for further growth. This investment is consistent with our strategy of investing in market-leading businesses in Asia linked to the region’s consumption-driven growth and rapid technological advancement," said Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, executive director of private equity at ADIA.

Reliance Retail operates India’s largest brick-and-mortar retail network with 12,000 points of sale nationwide, including neighborhood stores, supermarkets, wholesale outlets, specialty retailers, and online stores. Key assets include Reliance Fresh, Smart and Reliance Market in food and grocery, Reliance Digital and Jio in electronics, and Trends, Project Eve, and Ajio.com in fashion and lifestyle. It also operates stores for international partner brands.

Revenue came to INR1.6 trillion for the 12 months ended March 2020, up from INR1.3 trillion a year earlier. Over the same period, EBITDA rose 55.7% to INR96.5 billion. For Reliance Industries as a whole, revenue and EBITDA came to INR6.6 trillion and INR1 trillion, while net profit was INR443 billion. The parent company is prioritizing its retail, telecom, and digital businesses as a means of reducing its reliance on oil.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Expansion
• Consumer
• Technology
• India
• Reliance Industries
• Reliance Retail Ventures Limited
• Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)