Reliance spent $13 bn on acquisitions across sectors in five years

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has spent $13 billion on acquisitions in the past five years across new energy, telecom, retail and media business to script a pivot away from core oil and petrochemicals business to clean energy and consumer facing verticals.

Last week, Reliance bought oncology platform Karkinos Healthcare for Rs 375 crore, adding another stack to its diagnostic and digital healthcare ecosystem, Morgan Stanley said in a report. 

"Over the past five years, RIL has announced $ 13 billion in acquisitions with 14 per cent in new energy, 48 per cent in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), 9 per cent in retail, and increasingly more in healthcare," it said.

Of this, $ 6 billion was in acquisition of companies and assets in media and education business and $ 2.6 billion in telecom and internet verticals. It spent $ 1.7 billion on acquisitions in new energy and $ 1.14 billion in retail, according to Morgan Stanley.

RIL's biggest acquisition in the last five years has been buyout of local cable TV and internet service providers Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for $981 million. It spent $ 771 million on buying Norwegian-headquartered solar panel maker REC Solar Holdings and another $ 767 million on buying search and database firm JustDial, the report said.

Last week, it acquired a 100 per cent stake in Karkinos Healthcare, increasing its exposure to the diagnostic and healthcare ecosystem following previous investments like HAGI, Netmeds and Strand Life Science.

Karkinos provides technology driven, innovative solutions for early detection, diagnosis and management of cancer, according to Morgan Stanley.

It acts like a care partner during a patient's cancer treatment.

Other investors in the company have included Tata Group, Rakuten, Mayo Clinic, and Hero Enterprise.

"RIL aims to leverage its technological expertise and vast distribution networks to create more integrated healthcare system-digital health platforms, telemedicine services and advanced healthcare delivery models," the brokerage said.

Karkinos was incorporated in India on July 24, 2020 and is in the business of providing technology-driven, innovative solutions for the early detection, diagnosis, and management of cancer. It had a turnover of about Rs 22 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Karkinos has cancelled the existing outstanding 30,075 equity shares held by the erstwhile shareholders of the company. Its previous prominent investors included Ewart Investments Ltd (100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons), Reliance Digital Health Ltd (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries), Mayo Clinic (US), Sundar Raman (Director at Reliance Foundation Youth Sports and former COO of Indian Premier League since 2008), and Ravi Kant (ex-MD of Tata Motors).

The company is focused on providing end-to-end services relating to early detection and effective treatment of cancer at substantially lower than prevailing rates, while still generating healthy profitability. In order to meet this vision, Karkinos started partnering with hospitals to provide oncology services (testing, radiation therapy, etc.).

The company has partnered with around 60 hospitals till December 2023. It is through a subsidiary setting up a 150-bed multispecialty cancer hospital at Imphal, Manipur. Going forward, its source of income was said to be via Advanced Cancer Care Diagnostics and Research (ACCDR), Distributed Cancer Care Network (DCCN), tie-ups with corporates for early diagnosis of cancer, and cancer care hospital.