BENGALURU: India’s Reliance Industries is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in its retail arm to Amazon, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
Reliance, a conglomerate led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has already raised $20 billion this year from investors including Facebook and Google. Reliance is is willing to sell an up to 40 per cent stake in the retail business to Amazon, the agency reported.
Ambani is turning his focus toward retail after successfully building India’s top telecom network by customers in less than four years, hoping to take a dominant position as India’s huge consumer market comes of age.
Amazon has held talks about investing in Reliance Retail and expressed interest in negotiating potential deals but has made no decision, Bloomberg’s report said.
Reliance Retail, with close to 12,000 stores selling a wide range of products, acquired rival Future Group’s retail arm last month and on Wednesday announced a $1 billion investment from Silver Lake Partners.