General Atlantic picks up 0.84% stake in RIL Retail for `3,675 cr

New Delhi: Global private equity firm General Atlantic will invest Rs 3,675 crore to buy a 0.84 per cent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd's retail arm, extending the fundraising spree by billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led firm.

General Atlantic will invest in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, the Indian firm said in a statement.

This is the third private equity investment in Reliance Retail, following US-based private equity firm Silver Lake's Rs 7,500 crore investment for a 1.75 per cent stake and global private equity firm KKR's Rs 5,550 crore investment for a 1.28 per cent stake earlier this month. The transaction values Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 lakh crore.

"This marks the second investment by General Atlantic in a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, following a Rs 6,598.38 crore investment in Jio Platforms announced earlier this year," the statement said.

Reliance Retail Limited, a subsidiary of RRVL, operates India's largest, fastest-growing and most profitable retail business spanning supermarkets, consumer electronics chain stores, cash and carry wholesale business, fast-fashion outlets, and online grocery store JioMart.

It operates about 12,000 stores in nearly 7,000 towns, with 640 million footfalls across core categories of grocery, consumer electronics and apparel. Revenues for Reliance Retail in FY20 was Rs 1.63 lakh crore.

The investment will add fire to Ambani's battle for dominance in the retail market that is also being eyed by Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com and Walmart Inc's Flipkart. General Atlantic has a longstanding tradition of backing disruptive entrepreneurs and companies around the world, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber and other global technology leaders.