Reliance Deal Spree Explained in 10 Points as KKR Buys Stake in Retail Business for Rs 5,550 Crore

Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s largest conglomerate, has raised Rs 1.65 lakh crore ($22.43 billion) over the past few months through stake sales at its digital unit Jio Platforms and its retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures.

After completing 14 stake sales in Jio Platforms over the course of three months, starting with the deal with Facebook on April 22, Reliance is now lining up investors for its retail subsidiary, and has completed two deals in a time span of two weeks.

Here are 10 facts about the Reliance deal spree:

– On Wednesday, the company announced a Rs 5,550 ($755.1 million) crore investment from KKR & Co Inc in its retail arm, giving it a pre-money valuation of Rs 421 lakh crore ($57.28 billion).

– Earlier in September, Reliance raised Rs 7,500 crore ($1.02 billion) from US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners for its retail arm.

– The latest investments at Reliance Retail come after the conglomerate raised Rs 1.52 lakh crore ($20.66 billion) at its digital unit by selling stakes to 13 global investors.

– Investors in Jio include Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR & Co, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L. Catterton, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Qualcomm, Intel Corp and Alphabet Inc’s Google.

– Reliance has sold nearly 33 per cent in Jio through the stake sales, including a Rs 33,737 crore ($4.5 billion) investment by Google, giving the unit an equity valuation of Rs 4.36 lakh crore $59.32 billion.

– The stake sales at Jio also helped the conglomerate become net-debt free in June

– Reliance’s shares have risen 173 per cent in the last three years, as of Tuesday’s close. The company’s current market capitalization is at 14. 5 lakh crore.

– The conglomerate’s telecom unit had 392.7 million subscribers as of May since its launch in late 2016, mainly at the expense of Vodafone Idea. Vodafone Idea lost a fifth of its wireless customers last year and had 309.9 million subscribers as of May.

– Reliance’s oil and gas, refining and petrochemical businesses once underpinned its growth, but they have taken a hit as oil prices collapsed. In July, the company reported a nearly 44% fall in quarterly revenue as the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed demand for refined oil products.

– In addition to operating the world’s biggest refining complex, Reliance also operates supermarkets and TV channels.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.