Reliance Industries shares surge to new high

Shares of Reliance Industries today hit a new high when they rose as much as 2.5% to ₹2,215.Sentiments were lifted after Reliance Retail Ventures on Wednesday announced $1 billion investment from Silver Lake Partners. Mint reported that Reliance Retail Ventures is set to draw additional investments worth $5 billion from KKR and Co., Mubadala Investment Co. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), citing two people directly aware of the negotiations said.

California-based private equity fund Silver Lake, an investor in Reliance Industries Ltd’s Jio Platforms unit, has picked up a 1.75% stake in Reliance Retail Ventures for ₹7,500 crore, valuing the company at ₹4.21 trillion, or $57 billion.

In May, Reliance launched online grocery service JioMart. It has been aggressively building its retail presence through acquisitions, moving beyond its mainstay oil and gas business.

The conglomerate has already raised a little more than $20 billion from global investors, including Facebook Inc, by selling stakes in its Jio Platforms digital business.

Powered by Reliance's Jio tech platform, the unit owns retail businesses as varied as grocery stores and fashion chains, and operates close to 12,000 stores.

Shares of Reliance Industries, which has a market cap of over ₹14 lakh crore, have more than doubled from its March lows of ₹867. (With Agency Inputs)