GIC, TPG to Invest $1 Billion in Mukesh Ambani’s Retail Business

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore's GIC Pte. and private-equity firm TPG will invest a combined $1 billion in Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's retail unit, taking total inflows into the business to about $4.4 billion.

GIC will spend 55.1 billion rupees ($753 million) for a 1.22% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., while U.S.-based TPG will take 0.41% for 18.4 billion rupees, the Indian company said. The investments will value the business at 4.29 trillion rupees.

Ambani, 63, started selling stakes in his retail business last month, soon after raising more than $20 billion in exchange for 33% of his technology venture Jio Platforms Ltd., which lured partners including Facebook Inc. and Google. KKR & Co. and General Atlantic are among other investors in Reliance Retail, and the same private-equity funds had also picked up stakes earlier in Jio.

Reliance Retail, a unit of Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Ltd., runs supermarkets, India's largest consumer electronics chain store, a cash and carry wholesaler, fast-fashion outlets and an online grocery store called JioMart. It reported 1.63 trillion rupees in revenue in the year through March 2020. The unit operates almost 12,000 stores in nearly 7,000 towns.

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