Share price of Reliance Industries rose over 2 per cent on Wednesday afternoon after the company announced that US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners will pick up 1.75 per cent stake in its Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) for Rs 7,500 crore.
On the BSE, the scrip was trading at Rs 2,155.00, up by Rs 47.95 or 2.28 per cent. It had witnessed day’s high of Rs 2,155 and low of Rs 2,085 so far in the day.
After witnessing day’s high of Rs 2,157 on the NSE, the stock was trading up by Rs 48.25 or 2.29 per cent to Rs 2,155.35.
Earlier in the day, Reliance Industries in a statement said, “Silver Lake will invest Rs 7,500 crore into RRVL, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This investment values RRVL at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore. Silver Lake’s investment will translate into a 1.75% equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis.”
This marks the second billion-dollar investment by Silver Lake in a Reliance Industries subsidiary after the $1.35 billion investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.
It is worth mentioning that Silver Lake was the first US private equity firm to invest in Jio.
“Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India’s largest, fastest growing and most profitable retail business serving close to 640 million footfalls across its about 12,000 stores nationwide,” the statement said.
With more than $60 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a focus on the world’s great tech and tech-enabled opportunities, Silver Lake is the global leader in large-scale technology investing. The company aims to build and grow great companies by partnering with world-class management teams. Its other investments have included Airbnb, Alibaba, Alphabet’s Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and numerous other global technology leaders.
Commenting on the transaction with Silver Lake, Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, said, “I am delighted to extend our relationship with Silver Lake to our transformational efforts of building an inclusive partnership with millions of small merchants while providing value to Indian consumers across the country in the Indian retail sector.”
Egon Durban, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake, said, “The success of JioMart in such a short time span, especially while India, along with the rest of the world, battles the Covid-19 pandemic, is truly unprecedented, and the most exciting growth phase has just begun. Reliance’s New Commerce strategy could become the disruptor of this decade. We are thrilled to have been invited to partner with Reliance in their mission for Indian Retail.”