Reliance Retail acquires controlling stake in Just Dial

Reliance Industries (RIL) through its retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) announced that it is acquiring a majority stake of 66.95% in local search engine company Just Dial for Rs 3,497 crore.

RRVL on Friday (16 July 2021) announced that it will hold 40.95% and will 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.

RRVL would make a public announcement to the public shareholders of Just Dial to acquire up to 2.17 crore equity shares of Just Dial representing 26% 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).

Speaking on this transaction, Isha Ambani, director of RRVL said Reliance is excited to partner with Justdial and Mr. VSS Mani, a first-generation entrepreneur, who has created a strong business through his business acumen and perseverance. The investment in Just Dial underlines our commitment to New Commerce by further boosting the digital ecosystem for millions of our partner merchants, micro, small and medium enterprises. We look forward to working with the highly experienced management team of Just Dial as we further expand the business going forward.

VSS Mani, founder and CEO at Justdial said Nearly 25 years ago, we had a vision to build a connected single platform dedicated to providing fast, free, reliable and comprehensive information to our users and connect buyers to sellers. Our vision has evolved to not only provide search and discovery but drive commerce across merchants through our B2B platform and enable further consumer to merchant commerce given our platform engagement. Our strategic partnership with Reliance enables us to realize this vision and transform the business going forward.

The transaction is subject to shareholder and other customary closing conditions and approvals.

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.

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.

Shares of Just Dial fell 3.04% to Rs 1073.30 while shares of RIL rose 1.37% to Rs 2111.80 on Friday.

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