Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is reportedly looking to raise another $2.5 billion after mobilising $1.5 billion from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) recently.

A Reuters report said RRVL is in advanced talks with global investors to raise the sum by the end of September with Morgan Stanley advising the country’s largest organised retailer.

Reliance is negotiating with at least two US-based investors even as there is growing interest from its current foreign investors including some sovereign wealth funds.

In an emailed statement, Reliance said “As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours.”, but added “our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis.”

Last week, Reliance had announced that QIA is investing nearly 1 per cent in RRVL for Rs 8,278 crore, valuing the retail arm at Rs 8.278 lakh crore, which is twice the previous valuation obtained by RRVL three years ago.

In 2020, RRVL had raised funds from various global investors by selling 10.09 per cent equity for an aggregate amount of Rs 47,265 crore.

The transaction was then done at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.21 lakh crore.

The investors included KKR, Silver Lake, GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, General Atlantic, Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

After the demerger of its financial services business in the form of Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFSL), investors were anticipating some announcement from chairman Mukesh Ambani at the annual general meeting of RIL on the listing of RRVL and Jio Platforms Ltd.

However, Ambani did not give any timelines for the potential value unlocking thereby disappointing the street.

Yet, there is optimism that Reliance may make the announcement by the end of this calendar year or early next year.

Shares of RIL on Friday ended at Rs 2,413.05, thus showing a marginal gain
of 0.26 per cent over its last close.

Ambani said in 2019 that the group planned to list the retail business in five years.

Ambani’s daughter Isha Ambani leads the retail expansion. Reliance Retail has more than 18,000 retail outlets, but also a growing e-commerce operation where it competes with the likes of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart.

With inputs from Reuters