Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail has reportedly received investment interest from US-based private equity player Silver Lake, Financial Times reports. Silver Lake is reportedly looking to invest $1 billion in Reliance Retail at a valuation of roughly $57 billion.
Silver Lake was also among the first to invest in Jio Platforms, having invested Rs 10,202 crore for a 2.08% stake.
Mukesh Ambani said at Reliance Industries annual general meeting recently that Reliance Retail was receiving strong investor interest from global players. As per the report, Reliance Retail is looking to raise $5.7 billion by selling about 10% in new shares.
During the AGM, Isha Ambani, Director at Reliance Retail and Mukesh Ambani’s daughter also outlined plans for JioMart to grow and expand beyond grocery to enter other segments as well, including healthcare, electronics, apparel, among others.
Strong investor interest comes as no surprise as the business conglomerate raised $20 billion from 13 global investors including Google and Facebook for a total of 33% stake amid the pandemic for Jio Platforms.
The company is now looking to aggressively grow its retail presence. It recently also launched JioMart, the company’s online grocery platform as the company grows its omni-channel presence.
This also comes soon after a Morning Context report stating that Reliance Retail is in talks with Walmart to sell a minority stake. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer.
However, the contours of this deal will be interesting to see since Reliance has been building JioMart as a rival to existing e-commerce players, including Amazon and Flipkart. Walmart owns a 77% stake in Flipkart.
In a slump sale, Reliance Retail also bought the retail and logistics business of retail tycoon Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail for Rs 24,713 crore. Future Retail runs Big Bazaar, FBB, Easyday, Central, Foodhall across India., adding nearly 2000 retail stores to its kitty.
Post the deal, analysts said that the current scale of Reliance Retail will attract several global investors, since it makes Reliance Retail the largest retailer in the country.