After Silver Lake and KKR, Reliance Industries’ retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures Limited has announced that General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, will invest Rs 3,675 crore into RRVL. This investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 lakh crore. General Atlantic’s investment will translate into a 0.84% equity stake.
This is General Atlantic’s second investment in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a Rs 6,598.38 crore investment in Jio Platforms earlier this year.
Reliance Retail operates ~12,000 stores nationwide and sees close to 640 million footfalls.
Reliance Retail said in a statement that through its New Commerce strategy, it is looking to digitise small and unorganised merchants and enable them to use technology tools and an efficient supply chain infrastructure.
“Like Reliance Retail, General Atlantic believes in the fundamental ability of digital enablement to drive progress, growth, and inclusion across India and the world. We look forward to leveraging General Atlantic’s extensive expertise at the intersection of technology and consumer businesses, and two decades of experience investing in India, as we create a disruptive New Commerce platform to redefine retail in the country,” Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said in a statement.
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm and has invested in several global companies including Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber and other global technology leaders.
Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic, said, “General Atlantic is thrilled to be backing Mukesh’s New Commerce mission to drive substantial positive change in the country’s retail sector, which goes hand-in-hand with his vision to enable a Digital India through the work of Jio Platforms. General Atlantic shares Reliance Industries’ foundational belief in the power of technology to foster transformative growth, and we are excited by the immense potential of the full Reliance ecosystem. We are honored to again be partnering with the Reliance team to meaningfully accelerate India’s position in the global digital economy.”
Isha Ambani, Director of Reliance Retail, said, “We are delighted to welcome General Atlantic as a valued partner as we continue to develop and galvanize the Indian Retail ecosystem for the benefit of all Indian consumers and merchants. General Atlantic has tremendous knowledge in the retail space developed by working with leading consumer and retail companies globally over the years and we hope to benefit from that as we progress on our journey.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.