RIL AGM on Monday: Will Ambani give out pre-festive goodies to Dalal Street investors?
Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting on Monday.
Like always, investors’ eyes will be glued to Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s speech, as he addresses shareholders at the 46th AGM of the conglomerate.
In the last few years, some of the big-bang announcements from Ambani’s stable have usually come at the AGM. Therefore, this event has taken centre stage on Dalal Street.
But this time, Ambani gave out goodies much ahead of the AGM in the form of a stake sale in Reliance Retail Ventures and the listing of Jio Financial Services.
On Wednesday, the conglomerate announced that Qatar Investment Authority will pick up a nearly 1% stake in the retail arm, valuing the country’s largest retail firm at $100 billion.
The valuation of the retail business of Ambani has doubled within three years, and this has increased the noise of a possible initial public offer (IPO) of Reliance Retail on the Street.
At RIL’s AGM in 2019, Ambani had first announced plans to list the telecom and retail businesses of the conglomerate.
In 2020, Ambani did a mega fundraising programme by selling stakes in both Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail to marquee private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds.
Then, Reliance Retail Ventures raised Rs 47,265 crore, which valued the company at Rs 4.21 lakh crore.
The sharp expansion in the valuation could lure private equity investors to take in some of the money back home.
