Aramco chief on Reliance board : Mukesh Ambani at AGM
Key announcements at RIL AGM include Aramco deal, new phone and 5G push
MUMBAI: Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani made major announcements during the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM), chief among which were Saudi Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan joining RIL’s board, the Google-Jio smartphone JioPhone Next, and Google Cloud joining hands with Reliance Jio for its 5G initiative.
Saudi Aramco chairman and head of the Kingdom’s cash-rich wealth fund PIF Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan will join the board of Reliance Industries Ltd as a precursor to a $15 billion deal that is now expected to conclude this year.
The billionaire also unveiled the JioPhone Next co-developed with Google, an “ultra-affordable 4G smartphone”.
MUMBAI: Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani made major announcements during the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM), chief among which were Saudi Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan joining RIL’s board, the Google-Jio smartphone JioPhone Next, and Google Cloud joining hands with Reliance Jio for its 5G initiative. Saudi Aramco chairman and head of the Kingdom’s cash-rich wealth fund PIF Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan will join the board of Reliance Industries Ltd as a precursor to a $15 billion deal that is now expected to conclude this year.
Mukesh Ambani told shareholders that a deal to sell a 20% stake in the company’s oil-tochemical unit to Saudi Aramco was expected to conclude this year.
Apart from this, Ambani during his AGM speech announced RIL’s plans for the new energy business. He said that RIL has established the Reliance New Energy Council with some of the finest minds, globally. The company has started work on developing the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar.
“It will be amongst the largest such integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities the world,” he said. RIL’s overall initial investment from its own internal resources in the New Energy business will be ₹75,000 (over $10 billion) crore in 3 years.
Speaking on RIL’s retail arm, Ambani said despite challenging and restrictive operating conditions, Reliance Retail continued to deliver industry-leading returns. The company added 1,500 new stores, which is amongst the largest retail expansion undertaken by any retailer during this period, taking their store count to 12,711.
He said that Reliance Retail is committed to growing its business so that it is among the top 10 retailers globally. “I am confident that Reliance Retail is on a hyper-growth trajectory to grow at least 3x in the next 3-5 years,” Ambani said.
This apart, Ambani also announced the launch of JioPhone Next in collaboration with Google.
Harvard educated Al-Rumayyan, 51, will replace Yogendra P Trivedi, 92, who has expressed a desire to retire, Ambani said.
“Despite several challenges due to Covid-19, we have made substantial progress in the past in our discussions (with Saudi Aramco),” he said. “I expect our partnership to be formalised in an expeditious manner during this year.” RIL had inked an initial pact to sell a fifth of the unit that houses its oil refineries, petrochemical plants and fuel retailing business in August 2019, but the outbreak of global pandemic delayed the deal.
Ambani said RIL is looking forward to “welcoming Saudi Aramco as a strategic partner in our O2C business”.
In 2019, he had announced a $75 billion valuation for the O2C business. On Thursday, he did not put any value.
“I am sure that we will immensely benefit from his rich experience of running one of the world’s largest companies, and also one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world,” Ambani said. “His joining our board is also the beginning of the internationalisation of Reliance. You will hear more about our international plans in the times to come.”
An accounting graduate from King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia who went on to do a general management programme at Harvard Business School, Al-Rumayyan is the head of PIF since May 2019.