KKR to invest ₹5,550 cr in Reliance Retail Ventures

This marks the second investment by KKR in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a ₹11,367 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year.

Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India's largest, fastest growing and most profitable retail business serving close to 640 million footfalls across its ~12,000 stores nationwide. Reliance Retail’s vision is to galvanise the Indian retail sector through an inclusive strategy serving millions of customers by empowering millions of farmers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and working closely with global and domestic companies as a preferred partner, to deliver immense benefits to Indian society, while protecting and generating employment for millions of Indians.

"Reliance Retail, through its New Commerce strategy, has started a transformational digitalisation of small and unorganised merchants and is committed to expanding the network to over 20 million of these merchants. This will enable the merchants to use technology tools and an efficient supply chain infrastructure to deliver a superior value proposition to their own customers," RIL said in a press release.

Founded in 1976, KKR has $222 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2020 and a long history of building leading global enterprises, including many companies at the forefront of technology and digital transformation including in areas of consumer retail and e-commerce, such as investments in Epic Games, OutSystems, Internet Brands, Go-jek and Voyager Innovations. KKR established its first of eight Asia offices in 2005 and the firm currently has approximately $5.1 billion in private equity investments across more than 15 Indian companies, including Jio Platforms, JB Chemicals, Max Healthcare, Eurokids International and Ramky Enviro Engineers.

“I am pleased to welcome KKR as an investor in Reliance Retail Ventures as we continue our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian retail ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. KKR has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years. We look forward to working with KKR’s global platform, industry knowledge and operational expertise across our digital services and retail businesses,” said RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.

“We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Reliance Industries through this investment in Reliance Retail Ventures, which is empowering merchants of all sizes and fundamentally changing the retail experience for Indian consumers. Reliance Retail’s new commerce platform is filling an important need for both consumers and small businesses as more Indian consumers move to shopping online and the company offers tools for kiranas to be a critical part of the value chain. We are thrilled to support Reliance Retail in its mission to become India’s leading omnichannel retailer and ultimately to build a more inclusive Indian retail economy," said KKR co-founder and co-CEO Henry Kravis.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)