BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries Ltd said on Wednesday private equity firm General Atlantic will invest 36.75 billion rupees ($498.31 million) for a 0.84% stake in its retail arm, sending shares of the country's most valuable company up as much as 1%.
The deal underscores growing investor interest in the Mukesh Ambani-led company's expansion plans as it diversifies from its mainstay oil-and-gas business. Reliance is being seen as a formidable rival to Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc's Flipkart as they battle for market dominance in India.
Wednesday's investment gives Reliance Retail a pre-money valuation of 4.29 trillion rupees ($58.17 billion), the company said.
Reliance, which in May launched an online grocery service, also operates around 12,000 brick and mortar stores.
Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Reliance would leverage General Atlantic's "extensive expertise at the intersection of technology and consumer businesses" to expand its new commerce venture, tying neighbourhood stores for online deliveries of groceries, apparel and electronics.
With the latest investment from General Atlantic — which has also invested in Airbnb, Slack and Uber — Reliance has now raised around $2.3 billion for its retail arm.
General Atlantic is also an investor in Reliance's digital business Jio platforms, and sources told Reuters this week Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co is in advanced talks to invest up to $1 billion in the company's retail unit.
In India, competition for market share has prompted e-commerce players to look for new partnerships. Financial daily Mint reported on Tuesday U.S. retailer Walmart was in talks to invest up to $25 billion in Tata Group's planned "super-app", which will tie in all of the conglomerate's consumer businesses.
Reliance Industries' shares rose as much as 1% to 2,267 rupees as of 0413 GMT.
(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
路透班加盧市8月23日電-印度信實工業有限公司(Reliance Industries Ltd)週三表示,私募股權公司General Atlantic將投資367.5億盧比(4.9831億美元)收購其零售部門0.84%的股份,推動該國市值最高的公司股價上漲1%。
這筆交易突顯出,隨着這家由穆凱什·安巴尼(Mukesh Ambani)領導的公司實現業務多元化,投資者對該公司的擴張計劃越來越感興趣。信實正被視為亞馬遜(Amazon.com Inc.)和沃爾瑪(Walmart Inc.)旗下Flipkart的強大競爭對手,這兩家公司正在爭奪印度的市場主導地位。
該公司表示,週三的投資使Reliance Retail的錢前估值達到4.29萬億盧比(581.7億美元)。
信實在5月份推出了一項在線雜貨服務,還經營着約1.2萬家實體店。
信實集團董事長穆凱什·安巴尼(Mukesh Ambani)表示,信實集團將利用通用大西洋(General Atlantic)“在技術和消費者業務的交叉點上的廣泛專業知識”來擴大其新的商業合資企業,將附近的商店捆綁在一起,在線送貨食品雜貨、服裝和電子產品。
隨着通用大西洋公司(General Atlantic)的最新投資-該公司還投資了Airbnb、Slake和優步(Uber)-信實工業現在已經為其零售部門籌集了約23億美元。
General Atlantic也是Reliance數字業務Jio Platforms的投資者,消息人士本週告訴路透,阿布扎比國家基金穆巴達拉投資公司(Mubadala Investment Co)正就向該公司零售部門投資至多10億美元進行深入談判.
在印度,對市場份額的競爭促使電商尋找新的合作伙伴。金融日報Mint週二報道,美國零售商沃爾瑪(Walmart)正在洽談向塔塔集團(Tata Group)計劃中的“超級APP”投資至多250億美元,這將與塔塔集團的所有消費者業務捆綁在一起。
截至格林威治時間0413,信實工業股價上漲1%,至2267盧比。
(Philip George在孟加拉國報道;Shounak Dasgupta編輯)