Reliance raises $22.43 billion from stake sales at retail, digital arms
Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has raised 1.65 trillion rupees ($22.43 billion) over the past few months through stake sales at its digital unit Jio Platforms and its retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures.
On Wednesday the company announced a $755.1 million investment from KKR & Co Inc KKR.N in its retail arm, giving it a pre-money valuation of 4.21 trillion rupees ($57.28 billion)
– Earlier in September, Reliance raised $1.02 billion from Silver Lake Partners for its retail arm
– The latest investments at Reliance Retail come after the conglomerate raised 1.52 trillion rupees ($20.66 billion) at its digital unit by selling stakes to 13 global investors
– Investors in Jio include Facebook FB.O, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR & Co KKR.N, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L. Catterton, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Qualcomm QCOM.O, Intel Corp INTC.O and Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL.O Google
– Reliance has sold nearly 33% in Jio through the stake sales, including a $4.5 billion investment by Google, giving the unit an equity valuation of $59.32 billion
– The stake sales at Jio also helped the conglomerate become net-debt free in June
– Reliance’s shares have risen 173% in the last three years, as of Tuesday’s close. The company’s current market capitalization is at $194.78 bln
– The conglomerate’s telecom unit had 392.7 million subscribers as of May since its launch in late 2016, mainly at the expense of Vodafone Idea VODA.NS. Vodafone Idea lost a fifth of its wireless customers last year and had 309.9 million subscribers as of May
– Reliance’s oil and gas, refining and petrochemical businesses once underpinned its growth, but they have taken a sharp hit as oil prices collapsed. In July, the company reported a nearly 44% fall in quarterly revenue as the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed demand for refined oil products
– In addition to operating the world’s biggest refining complex, Reliance also operates supermarkets and TV channels
