Reliance Retail to raise $1 billion from Silver Lake

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s retail venture Reliance Retail said on Wednesday it will raise $1.02 billion from Silver Lake, kickstarting a fundraising spree months after its sister venture Jio Platforms raised $20 billion earlier this year.

The investment in Reliance Retail will grant Silver Lake a 1.75% equity stake in India’s largest retail chain. The deal values Reliance Retail at $57 billion pre-money, its parent firm Reliance Industries said in a statement.

Reliance Retail, which last month acquired several parts of Future Group (India’s second largest retail chain), has 12,000 stores across the country. Oil-to-retail giant Reliance Industries in recent quarters has looked to further expand the reach of Reliance Retail by entering e-commerce space.

JioMart, a joint venture between Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, has presence across 200 cities and towns in India.

“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,” said Ambani in a statement.

Menlo Park-headquartered Silver Lake also invested $1.3 billion in Jio Platforms earlier this year. On Tuesday, it led a $500 million investment round in Indian edtech giant Byju’s.

More to follow…