Mumbai, Sep. 30 (IANS): Reliance Industries Limited on Wednesday announced that global growth equity firm General Atlantic will invest INR 3,675 crore into its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Limited to pick up 0.84 per cent equity stake in the company.
This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of INR 4.285 lakh crore, a company statement said.
This marks the second investment by General Atlantic in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a INR 6,598.38 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, "I am pleased to extend our relationship with General Atlantic as we work towards empowering both merchants and consumers alike, and ultimately transforming Indian Retail. Like Reliance Retail, General Atlantic believes in the fundamental ability of digital enablement to drive progress, growth, and inclusion across India and the world."
"We look forward to leveraging General Atlantic's extensive expertise at the intersection of technology and consumer businesses, and two decades of experience in investing in India, as we create a disruptive New Commerce platform to redefine retail in the country," he said.
Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates the retail business of the company serving close to 640 million footfalls across its 12,000 stores nationwide. The company, through its New Commerce strategy, has started a transformational digitalisation of small and unorganised merchants and is expanding the network to over 20 million of these merchants.
General Atlantic is a global growth equity firm with a track record of investing in the Technology, Consumer, Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. It has a longstanding tradition of backing disruptive entrepreneurs and companies around the world, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber and other global technology leaders.
Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic, said, "General Atlantic shares Reliance Industries' foundational belief in the power of technology to foster transformative growth, and we are excited by the immense potential of the full Reliance ecosystem. We are honoured to again be partnering with the Reliance team to meaningfully accelerate India's position in the global digital economy."
Isha Ambani, Director of Reliance Retail, said, "General Atlantic has tremendous knowledge in the retail space developed by working with leading consumer and retail companies globally over the years and we hope to benefit from that as we progress on our journey."
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Retail and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal counsel to General Atlantic.