Reliance Retail plans to raise Rs 400 crore initially within the next two months through the trust
New Delhi: Reliance Retail has filed an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) proposal on Friday with the country’s market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to unlock value in its logistics and warehousing units and raise Rs 400 crore, to begin with, according to two people familiar with the development.
One of the sources said Reliance Retail plans to raise Rs 400 crore initially within the next two months.
“The first round would be just to establish the InvIT,” he said asking not to be named. “Eventually, the InvIT will raise Rs 25,000-Rs40,000 crore and that will only happen by the fourth quarter.”
Reliance Retail did not respond to a questionnaire seeking comment on the latest filing.
In February, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) registered a trust with SEBI in a bid to list the InvIT of the retail unit’s combined backend infrastructure including its warehousing, supply chain, logistics infrastructure and other backend facilities.
Reliance Retail is India’s largest retailer by sales and by the number of stores. In the process of building a $100 billion valued retail juggernaut, RIL has also spawned the country’s largest network of supply chain, warehousing and allied logistics.
Now Reliance Retail is looking to unlock the value of that segment by listing as an infrastructure investment trust.
Recently, IndiaRetailing broke the news of Reliance Retail’s talks with US-based Gap Inc. to bring Old Navy to India.
In addition, the conglomerate is looking to strengthen its position in the value segment with a sharper focus on tier 2 towns and beyond. Reliance Retail already operates over two-thirds of its network of stores (more than 7000 stores) in tier 2 and beyond towns across the country.
Reliance Retail operates over 18000 stores across the country covering a retail area of 656 million sq. ft. It has a total footfall of 780 million across its stores and a registered customer base of 249 million. It has recently achieved a 1 billion customer transaction milestone. Also, it has added 12.6 million sq. ft. of warehouse space. It has a gross revenue of Rs 2,60,394 crore and registered a revenue growth of 30.4% year on year.
