Reliance Retail Ventures to acquire 67% stake in Just Dial

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) announced that it will acquire a 66.95% stake in search and discovery platform Just Dial for a total cash consideration of Rs 3,497 crore.

Mukesh Ambani-backed RRVL has acquired a 40.95% stake in Just Dial and will make an open offer to acquire another 26%.

VSS Mani, founder of Just Dial, will continue to lead the 25-year-old company as its managing director and chief executive officer or CEO, Reliance said in a press release.

As per the release, RRVL has received a 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. It has also acquired 1.31 crore equity shares from Mani, which is equivalent to 15.62% post preferential share capital at a price per share of Rs 1,020.

"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." said Isha Ambani, Director of RRVL.

Just Dial will use the capital infused by Reliance to drive the growth and expansion of the company into a comprehensive local listing and commerce platform. Meanwhile, Reliance will leverage Just Dial’s existing database of 30.4 million listings and its existing consumer traffic of 129.1 million quarterly unique users.

While Just Dial reported a net loss of Rs 3.5 crore for the quarter ending June or Q1 FY22, it recorded a net profit of Rs 83 crore in the same period last year. During the period, the company’s revenue was recorded at Rs 165 crore. 

Earlier in February, Just Dial had launched its B2B marketplace platform, JD Mart. The new entity helps manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers to acquire customers through online channels.

It’s worth noting that Just Dial had spent around 50 crore on advertisement in IPL 2021 to promote the new B2B platform.