Business Desk, ETV Bharat: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) became the first Indian company to hit a market capitalization (m-cap) of over $200 billion after its shares touched a record high of Rs 2,344 apiece in intra-day trade on Thursday.
Notably, the RIL stock has risen by a whopping 165% from its lows seen in March 2020 when the equity markets witnessed steep correction after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic. Year-to-date, RIL shares are up 55% compared with a 6% decline the benchmark Sensex.
On Thursday, the stock gained as much as 8.5% during the trading session after a Bloomberg report said that RIL is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in its retail business to global e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. The stock closed the day 7.3% higher at Rs 2,319.
According to the report, Amazon has already held discussions about investing in the Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) unit and has expressed interest in negotiating a potential transaction.
If the deal materializes, it would turn India’s richest person Mukesh Ambani and world’s richest person Jeff Bezos into allies instead of rivals by creating a mega retail behemoth in one of the fastest-growing consumer markets in the world, the report noted.
Interestingly, on Wednesday, RIL announced that PE firm Silver Lake Partners will invest Rs 7,500 crore in RRVL in exchange for a 1.75% stake in the unit.
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The investment values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore, RIL said in an exchange filing.
According to media reports, US-based PE firms KKR and Co. and L. Catterton are also in talks with RIL individually for a significant investment in its retail business.
KKR could invest as much as $1.5 billion in RRVL and an announcement could come as soon as this month, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
RIL has been on a roll this year after its technology venture Jio Platforms Ltd managed to raise over $20 billion by selling stakes to investors like Facebook and Google. Now, Mukesh Ambani has turned his focus to the retail business. In the company’s AGM (annual general meeting) in July, Ambani had mentioned: “We will induct global partners and investors in Reliance Retail in the next few quarters. I will keep you informed about the progress of Reliance Retail, which is at the doorsteps of continued exponential growth.”
Earlier this month, RIL had also bought Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail for 24,713 crore, reinforcing its position as a leader in the organised retail segment in India.
