Amazon is reportedly in talks with Reliance Industries to acquire a 9.9 percent stake in Reliance Retail. That’s according to a new report from news channel ET Now, citing sources familiar with the matter.
As per the report, Amazon wants to have a preferred, strategic stake in Reliance Retail for JioMart. The report also says the companies are discussing the possibility for Amazon to get preferential access to JioMart.
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At the 43rd Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries, Chairman Mukesh Ambani had revealed that several strategic and financial investors had shown a strong interest in Reliance Retail. He further said the company will “induct global partners and investors in Reliance Retail in the next few quarters.”
The valuation of the deal remains unknown so far. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley – financial advisor to Reliance Industries for Jio Platforms’ deals valued Reliance Retail at about $29 billion.
The news comes merely weeks after Reliance announced its plans to expand JioMart by removing minimum order requirements. Since then, the JioMart app has garnered over 1 lakh downloads on Google Play.
In case all this sounds familiar, that’s because Facebook picked 9.9 percent stake in Reliance Jio Platforms this April. JioMart has also gained investments from tech giants like Google, Qualcomm, and Intel.
The discussions have allegedly happened because of another potential deal of Reliance Retail wanting to acquire a majority stake in Future Retail. It will be interesting to see how the events of this deal unfold and if Amazon’s interest in Reliance Retail would attract even more investors in Reliance Retail.
