Just Dial slips after RRVL announces open offer at discount

Just Dial fell 2.58% to Rs 1045.65 after Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) announced an open offer to acquire 26% stake in the company at Rs 1,022.25 per share.

RRVL announced an open offer for acquisition of up to 2,17,36,894 equity shares of Just Dial (representing 26% stake) for a cash consideration of Rs 2,222.05 crore.

The shares in the open offer are being acquired at a price of Rs 1,022.25 apiece, at 4.76% discount to the scrip's closing price of Rs 1073.30 on Friday (16 July 2021).

After market hours on Friday, Reliance Industries (RIL) through its retail arm RRVL announced the acquisition of a majority stake of 66.95% in local search engine company Just Dial for Rs 3,497 crore.

RRVL is a subsidiary of RIL and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group. RRVL reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 157,629 crore ($21.6 billion) and net profit of Rs 5,481 crore ($750 million) for the year ended 31 March 2021.

RRVL would hold 40.95% and would make an open offer to acquire upto 26% in accordance with takeover regulations.

RRVL, Just Dial and VSS Mani & others executed definitive agreements which will entail preferential allotment of 2.12 crore equity shares (equivalent to 25.33% post preferential share capital) at price per share of Rs 1,022.25 to Reliance Retail. RRVL also acquired 1.31 crore equity shares from VSS Mani, which is equivalent to 15.62% post preferential share capital at a price per share of Rs 1,020.

The open offer announced by RRVL for acquiring 26% stake in Just Dial is in accordance with SEBI Takeover Regulations.

VSS Mani shall continue as managing director and chief executive officer to lead Just Dial through the next phase of growth.

The capital infused by RRVL will help drive the growth and expansion of Just Dial into a comprehensive local listing and commerce platform. Just Dial would expand discovery on its platform and enhance transactions for millions of products and services. The investments are said to leverage Just Dial's existing database of about 30.4 million listings and its existing consumer traffic of 129.1 million quarterly unique users (as on 31 March 2021). The transaction is subject to shareholder and other customary closing conditions and approvals.

Just Dial is India's leading local search engine platform which provides search related services to users across India through multiple platforms such as website, apps, over the telephone and text.

Just Dial announced its first quarter earnings after market hours on Friday. The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 3.52 crore in Q1 FY22 as against a net profit of Rs 83.32 crore in Q1 FY21. Net sales during the quarter rose 1.8% YoY to Rs 165.41 crore.

Total expenditure jumped 46.1% to Rs 182.59 crore in the first quarter from Rs 124.94 crore in the same period last year. The company posted a pre-tax loss of Rs 4.39 crore in Q1 FY22 as compared with a pre-tax profit of Rs 101.27 crore in Q1 FY21.

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