Silver Lake to invest $1bn in Indian retailer Reliance Retail

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries said that US private equity firm Silver Lake will invest INR 7,500 crore ($1.02 billion) for a stake of 1.75% in the former’s subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL).

The investment values Reliance Retail Ventures at a pre-money equity value of INR 4.21 lakh crore. It marks the second billion dollar investment made by Silver Lake in a Reliance Industries subsidiary following the $1.35 billion investment in Jio Platforms earlier this year.

Mukesh Ambani – Chairman and Managing Director of 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.

“We believe technology will be key to bringing the much-needed transformation in this sector so that various constituents of the retail ecosystem can collaborate to build inclusive growth platforms. Silver Lake will be an invaluable partner in implementing our vision for Indian Retail.”

Silver Lake to invest $1bn in Indian retailer Reliance Retail. Photo courtesy of Arunvrparavur/Wikimedia Commons.

Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures, is claimed to operate the largest retail business in India with about 12,000 stores across the country.

In the food and grocery category Reliance Retail operates the Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart, and Reliance Market store chains. In the consumer electronics sector, it operates Reliance Digital, Reliance Digital Express Mini stores, and Jio stores.

Reliance Retail is also engaged in the fashion and lifestyle category through Reliance Trends, Trends Man, Trends Women, Trends junior, Project Eve, Reliance Jewels, and Reliance Footprint, and AJIO.com among others.

Egon Durban – Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake said: “We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Reliance with this investment. 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.”

In late August, Reliance Retail Ventures signed a deal to acquire the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing business from Future Group, an Indian retailing network for $3.4 billion. Through the deal, Reliance Retail Ventures adds to its portfolio the Big Bazaar supermarket chain and small store neighborhood retail chains – EasyDay Club and Heritage Fresh among others.