Silver lake to invest ₹ 7,500 crore in reliance retail ventures

Reliance Industries Limited (“Reliance Industries”) and Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (“RRVL”) has announced that Silver Lake will be investing ₹ 7,500 crores into RRVL, which is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. This investment values RRVL at a pre-money equity value of ₹ 4.21 lakh crore. Silver Lake’s investment will translate into a 1.75 per cent equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis.

 Silver Lake had invested in Jio platforms earlier this year and this is the second billion-dollar investment in a Reliance Industries subsidiary. Silver Laker had infused $1.35 billion in Jio Platforms.

Reliance Retail, through its New Commerce strategy, has started a transformational digitalization of small and unorganised merchants and is committed to expanding the network to over 20 million merchants, helping them benefit from the use of technology tools and efficient supply chain infrastructure to deliver a superior value proposition to their own customers.

With more than $60 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a focus on the world’s great tech and tech-enabled opportunities, Silver Lake is the global leader in large-scale technology investing. Its mission is to build and grow great companies by partnering with world-class management teams. Its other investments have included Airbnb, Alibaba, Alphabet’s Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and numerous other global technology leaders.

Commenting on the transaction with Silver Lake, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, said, “I am delighted to extend our relationship with Silver Lake to our transformational efforts of building an inclusive partnership with millions of small merchants while providing value to Indian consumers across the country in the Indian retail sector. We believe technology will be key to bringing the much-needed transformation in this sector so that various constituents of the retail ecosystem can collaborate to build inclusive growth platforms. Silver Lake will be an invaluable partner in implementing our vision for Indian Retail.”

Egon Durban, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake, said, “We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Reliance with this investment. Mukesh Ambani and his team at Reliance have created an outstanding world leader in retail and technology through their courageous vision, commitment to societal benefits, innovation excellence and relentless execution. The success of JioMart in such a short time span, especially while India, along with the rest of the world, battles the COVID-19 pandemic, is truly unprecedented, and the most exciting growth phase has just begun. Reliance’s New Commerce strategy could become the disruptor of this decade. We are thrilled to have been invited to partner with Reliance in their mission for Indian Retail.”