Demand for Reliance Retail stake is so high Mukesh Ambani is putting investors on wait-list

Carlyle & SoftBank have expressed interest in investing in Reliance Retail but have been asked to wait as Reliance is already in talks with other investors.

New Delhi: Investor demand for Reliance Industries Ltd.’s retail business is so strong that Carlyle Group Inc. and SoftBank Group Corp. are among those that have been put onto a waiting list, according to people familiar with the matter.

Carlyle and SoftBank have recently expressed interest in investing in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Reliance Industries has asked the two companies to wait on the sideline since the Indian conglomerate is already in advanced talks with other financial investors, the people said.

Ambani is tapping the backers of his digital services business, which has secured $20 billion in recent months, as he seeks funding for Reliance Retail. Silver Lake Partners, an investor in Jio Platforms Ltd., last week agreed to chip in $1 billion. Other Jio investors, including private equity funds KKR & Co. and L Catterton, are also considering investing, Bloomberg News has reported.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., which is a Jio investor as well, is weighing an investment of about $750 million in Reliance Retail, the people said. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are also mulling investments, one of the people said.

The strong response from Jio’s financial investors means there’s not enough for others. Reliance Industries plans to sell about a 10% stake in Reliance Retail to financial investors and almost all the $5.7 billion worth of shares have been taken up, the people said.

The largest allocation is reserved for Amazon.com Inc., Bloomberg News reported last week. Ambani is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in the retail business to the U.S. tech giant, which could be equivalent to as much as a 40% holding. A deal, if successful, would be the biggest ever in India as well as for Amazon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Potential investors including Carlyle and SoftBank could still get their hands on Reliance Retail shares should others cut their commitments, the people said. Negotiations are ongoing and could still be delayed or fall apart, the people said.

Representatives for Reliance, Carlyle, SoftBank, ADIA and Mubadala declined to comment, while a representatives for PIF didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ambani has identified technology and retail as future growth areas in a pivot away from the energy businesses he inherited from his father, who died in 2002. Retail is the next frontier for the 63-year-old Indian tycoon, whose ambitions include creating a home-grown e-commerce giant like China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.- Bloomberg

Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it

You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.

You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.

We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And have just turned three.

At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is.

This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it.

If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous and questioning journalism. Please click on the link below. Your support will define ThePrint’s future.

Support Our Journalism