CARLYLE AND SOFTBANK ON WAITING LIST FOR RELIANCE RETAIL STAKE
Investor demand for Reliance Industries’ retail business is so strong that Carlyle Group and Softbank Group are among those that have been put on a waiting list, according to sources. Reliance asked the two firms to wait on the sideline since it was already in advanced talks with other financial investors, the sources added.
Investor demand for Reliance Industries’ retail business is so strong that Carlyle Group and Softbank Group are among those that have been put on 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, 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 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, as he seeks funding for Reliance Retail. Silver Lake Partners, an investor in Jio Platforms, last week agreed to chip in $1 billion. Other Jio investors, including private equity funds KKR 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 (ADIA) and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) 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 per cent 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, Bloomberg News reported last week. Ambani is offering to sell a roughly $20-billion stake in the retail business to the US tech giant, which could be equivalent to as much as a 40 per cent holding. A deal, if successful, would be the biggest ever in India as well as for Amazon, according to 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.