Reliance Industries, via its retail branch – Reliance Ventures (RRVL) announced on Friday, 16th July that it is going to acquire a majority stake, 66.95% to be precise in Just Dial for ₹ 3,497 crores. Reliance will hold about a 40% stake in the company as per their agreement and would make an open offer to take over 26% in accordance with the regulations set by market regulator SEBI. Although, Just Dial founder, VSS Mani would continue to lead the company as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Reliance Ventures, Just Dial, and VSS Mani executed agreements including preferential allotment of 2.12 crore equity shares (almost equal to 25.33% post preferential share capital) at ₹1,022.25 per share Reliance Retail. The company also acquired 1.31 crore equity shares from the CEO of Just Dial, which equals to15.62% post preferential share capital ₹ 1,020 price per share. Reliance Industries have received a preferential allotment of 2.12 crore equity shares out of the total 40.95% acquired by the company.
Just Dial is a 25-year-old search engine platform, Reliance Retail Ventures is India’s largest retailer which is continuously expanding. This acquisition will help RRVL expand its merchant database and, it will help in Just Dial’s growth into a comprehensive local listing and commerce platform. This partnership will leverage Just Dial’s existing database of 30.4 million listings along with its consumer traffic of 129.1 million unique users.
Speaking on the same, Isha Ambani, the Director of Reliance Retail Ventures said, “Reliance is excited to partner with Just Dial and VSS Mani, a first-generation entrepreneur, who has created a strong business through his business acumen and perseverance. The investment in Just Dial underlines our commitment to New Commerce by further boosting the digital ecosystem for millions of our partner merchants, micro, small and medium enterprises. We look forward to working with the highly experienced management team of Just Dial as we further expand the business going forward.”
In 2020, Reliance Retail raised the country’s largest fundraiser in the retail sector – raising ₹ 47,265 crores with a net profit of ₹ 5,481 crores for the year 2020-2021.
This acquisition is an additional thing to the already huge fleet of sub-companies Reliance has with over 33.8 Mn Sq Ft of retail footprint across 7,000 cities. Reliance is also looking forward to increasing its market presence by acquiring the Future Group’s retail, distribution and warehousing business.
Follow and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter
