ADIA looks to put $600 million into RIL's retail business
Mukesh Ambani’s sprawling retail empire. ADIA is seeking to invest $600 million into the organized retailing business of Asia's richest person, people aware of the developments told ET, at valuations that significantly exceed those during an earlier concluded round three years ago.
ADIA is already an investor in Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), having bought a 1.2% stake for Rs 5,512.50 crore ($751 million) in October 2020, when the company raised Rs Rs 47,265 crore by selling 10.09% stake to a clutch of bulge-bracket investors that included Saudi PIF, Mubadala, GIC of Singapore, Silverlake, TPG and GA.
From the previous bunch of investors, KKR has already made a follow-on investment of Rs 2,069.50 crore at a pre-money equity value of Rs 8.361 lakh crore ($100 billion), making RRVL among the top four companies by implied market capitalization in the country.
Thus far, Qatar's $1-billion infusion has been the only fresh investment in the current round of fund raise.
The current valuation is almost at a 60% premium to the last financing round three years ago, but is much lower than what most equity analysts perceive the value of the privately held retail business to be.
Analysts in AllianceBernstein in May had recommended a $131-billion valuation for Reliance Retail.
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“This further cements the strategic relations between the two companies on the back of a strong government relationship between the two sovereigns,” said an official on the condition of anonymity as the talks are in private domain. “ADIA is a major investor in Indian equities, infrastructure and financial services, but it is not often that it doubles down — especially at such premium valuations.”
Interestingly, Reliance Industries
