QIA invests $1bn in India's Reliance Retail
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has agreed to invest INR 82.8bn (USD 1bn) in the retail unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries.
The sovereign wealth fund will take a 0.99% stake in Reliance Retail, valuing the business at USD 100bn, according to a filing.
The investment comes three years after eight investors - Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala Investment, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), GIC Private, TPG Capital, General Atlantic, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund - committed INR 472.7bn at a valuation of USD 64bn.
That transaction followed a USD 20bn fundraising effort by Jio Platforms, of which USD 9.9bn came from 11 private equity investors. Jio Platforms is a Reliance Industries-owned holding company for a range of apps, some nascent broadband and cable services, and India’s leading mobile carrier.
Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail are pursuing complementary “new commerce” strategies. For Reliance Retail, this means driving supply-side digitisation by helping 20m merchants – many based in rural areas – apply technology solutions to retail processes and supply chain infrastructure.
The company operates India’s largest brick-and-mortar retail network with 18,500 points of sale nationwide, including neighbourhood stores, supermarkets, wholesale outlets, speciality 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.
Reliance Retail's revenue reached INR 2.6tn for the 12 months ended March 2023, up 30% year-on-year. Growth was driven by an acceleration of store network expansion. Net profit also rose 30%, hitting INR 91.8bn, according to a statement.
The company joins a growing list of consumer technology-related investments in India by QIA. The sovereign wealth fund has also backed the likes of education technology provider Byju’s, cloud kitchen operator Rebel Foods, and delivery platform Swiggy.
“QIA is committed to supporting innovative companies with high growth potential in India’s fast-growing retail market,” said Mansoor Ebrahim al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA, in a statement.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.