Reliance Retail secures over $6 billion since September

Public Investment Fund (PIF) Saudi Arabia has invested in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) at a pre-money valuation of Rs 4.59 trillion ($62.4 billion), which is 7-9 per cent higher than earlier investments in RRVL.

According to a research by financial services firm Bernstein, Silver Lake's initial $1 billion investment and the KKR investment were at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 trillion ($57.3 billion) and others were at a pre-money valuation of Rs 4.28 trillion ($58.3 billion).PIF's investment is at a pre-money valuation of Rs 4.59 trillion ($62.4 billion), 7-9 per cent higher than earlier investments.

The PIF Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund has invested $1.3 billion in the holding company of RRVL for a 2.04 per cent stake. RRVL has raised more than $6 billion since September 2020 by diluting 10.3 per cent stake.Other investors include GIC ($750 million, only retail), Silver Lake ($1.25 billion), KKR ($750 million), Mubadala ($830 million), ADIA ($750 million), General Atlantic ($500 million), and TPG ($250 million).

Earlier this year, PIF had invested $1.5 billion in Jio Platforms for a 2.32 per cent stake.In a related development, WhatsApp Pay has got approval to go live on the UPI platform. WhatsApp Pay will begin scaling up the users with a maximum of 20 million initially.

In April, WhatsApp had entered into a separate commercial partnership with Reliance Retail/JioMart. Like WeChat in China, WhatsApp could become a 'Super App' that allows Reliance to bundle commerce solutions, payments/Fintech and media/content solutions, benefiting Reliance Jio/FB customers.

As per the research, Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India and operates 12,000 stores, with 640 million footfalls across core categories of grocery, consumer electronics and apparel. Revenue for Reliance Retail in FY20 was Rs 1.63 trillion ($21.7 billion). Reliance Retail saw a strong recovery in Q2FY21, aided by easing of lockdowns.

JioMart, the e-commerce platform, was launched in May 2020. Reliance aims to digitisekirana stores through its new commerce business. In Q2FY21, JioMartkirana partnerships were expanded to 20 cities and orders grew four times compared to Q1FY21.