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Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is set to invest $1bn in Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s retail unit, valuing the shopping company at $100bn, in the latest sign of Gulf investors’ deepening exposure to India’s fast-growing economy.
The $450bn Qatar Investment Authority would take a 0.99 per cent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, the Reliance Industries subsidiary announced on Wednesday.
“QIA is committed to supporting innovative companies with high growth potential in India’s fast growing retail market,” QIA chief executive Mansoor Ebrahim al-Mahmoud said in a statement.
He added that Reliance Retail joined the fund’s “growing and diverse portfolio of investments in India”.
The investment will be one of the biggest bets made on Indian retail by the gas-rich Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, which has also invested in Indian start-ups including online restaurant company Rebel Foods and delivery group Swiggy. The Financial Times reported Qatar was considering the investment last month.
The deal follows a series of other transactions in India by the QIA. This month, a wholly owned subsidiary of the fund spent $474mn on a nearly 3 per cent stake in Adani Green Energy, the renewables unit of tycoon Gautam Adani, market data has revealed.
Ambani has used equity sales to deep-pocketed global investors to help fund ambitious plans for Reliance Industries, whose activities range from petrochemicals to mobile data. The parent company is India’s biggest by market valuation. Reliance Retail Ventures last raised roughly $6bn from investors, which included Gulf sovereign wealth funds and international private equity firm KKR in 2020, at about half its new valuation.
Led by Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha Ambani, Reliance Retail has used acquisitions to fuel its aggressive expansion across shopping categories as it bets on India’s middle class growing more prosperous. It has invested in categories as diverse as supplying products to small local stores and luxury shopping malls.
Isha Ambani said that the QIA’s investment signalled “a positive outlook” on Reliance’s retail business and India’s economy. The IMF forecasts the country’s gross domestic product will grow 6.1 per cent this year.
Having grown into India’s largest retailer by revenues, Reliance Retail has offered its scale to fashion brands seeking a foothold in the expanding market, including Balenciaga and Burberry. The group’s revenues were Rs2.6tn ($31.5bn) for the year to the end of March this year.
In May, Reliance Retail struck a deal to bring Chinese fast-fashion company Shein back to India. That transaction came three years after New Delhi banned the group’s app as it tried to freeze Chinese commerce in the country, following fighting between Indian and Chinese troops on their shared Himalayan border.
Investors in Reliance Industries will be hoping for an update on Mukesh Ambani’s plans to spin out major business units, including Reliance Retail, at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday. Reliance this week listed Jio Financial Services, its fledgling lending company, on Mumbai’s BSE exchange.
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