In a move to strengthen its retail venture, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the country's most valuable company, is planning to acquire a foreign retail firm.
A top Reliance team, which has so far confined its activities to small acquisitions in India, recently visited the US and the UK.
The team reportedly held discussions with a dozen companies, mostly tier-II or smaller firms like Coles & Myers and J Sainsbury. The company is not focusing on giants like Home Depot, Tesco and Wal-Mart.
Sources close to the development said RIL was keen on outright acquisition and not a strategic tie-up, which some companies had wanted.
An RIL spokesperson declined to comment.
RIL has already earmarked Rs 27,000 crore for its retail business. A large chunk of this money, plus around Rs 22,500 crore from the sale of its treasury stock, could be used for the buy-out.
Treasury stocks are shares held in RIL by RIL associate companies. These shares will account for 13 per cent of RIL's equity after the merger with IPCL, a petrochemical company RIL acquired from the government. They will be sold to strategic investors.
RIL has also been looking for "suitable targets" within the country, in addition to its recently-concluded acquisition of Adani Retail for over Rs 100 crore.
Sources explained that a foreign acquisition will not only provide access to overseas markets but also allow RIL to leverage robust back-end inventory and logistics management systems.
RIL runs its retail venture through its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Retail, which currently has 71 stores under the Reliance Fresh brand name.
Sources said it would not list the company on the market yet, since the retail business can leverage support from RIL's Rs 14,000 crore of cash flows this year. The plan, they said, was to list the subsidiary after about two years.
There is also speculation that Reliance is in talks with Carrefour for acquiring its supply chain business. However, this could not be confirmed.
