KKR to invest ₹5,500 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures for 1.28% stake

Investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of ₹4.21 lakh crore

Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani has been looking to expand rapidly online to take on the likes of Walmart Inc's Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc's Indian arm. File photo

Investment firm KKR has decided to invest ₹5,550 crore in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), for a 1.28% stake, RIL said in a filing with stock exchanges.

This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of ₹4.21 lakh crore.

This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a

₹11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.

Like its sister entity Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures is on a fund-raising spree to strengthen its technology reach and to meet radical expansion plans.

On September 9, Silver Lake had announced an investment of ₹7,500 crore in RRVL to pick up a 1.75% stake.

Reliance Retail Ltd, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India’s largest, fastest growing retail business serving close to 640 million footfalls across its 12,000 stores nationwide.

Mukesh Ambani, CMD, RIL said, “I am pleased to welcome KKR as an investor in Reliance Retail Ventures as we continue our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian Retail ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians.”

“KKR has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years. We look forward to working with KKR’s global platform, industry knowledge and operational expertise across our digital services and retail businesses,” Mr. Ambani said.

In a statement Henry Kravis, Co-founder & Co-CEO, said this investment would deepen KKR’s relationship with Reliance Industries through Reliance Retail Ventures, which is empowering merchants of all sizes and fundamentally changing the retail experience for Indian consumers.

“Reliance Retail’s new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers move to shopping online and the company offers tools for kiranas to be a critical part of the value chain,” he said.

He added that KKR would support Reliance Retail in its mission to become India’s leading omnichannel retailer and ultimately to build a more inclusive Indian retail economy.

KKR is making its investment from its Asia private equity funds. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.