Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), the retail arm of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), will acquire a majority stake of 66.95 percent in B2B search engine Just Dial.
A per the agreement finalized, Just Dial founder VSS Mani would continue to lead the company as its managing director and chief executive officer.
RRVL would hold 40.95 percent stakes in the company, as per the definite agreements executed on July 16, and would make an open offer to acquire up to 26 percent in accordance with the takeover regulations, a press release stated.
Out of the 40.95 percent stakes acquired by Reliance Retail, it has received a preferential allotment of 2.12 crore equity shares, which is equivalent to 25.33 percent post preferential share capital at price per share of Rs 1,022.25.
RRVL has also acquired 1.31 crore equity shares from VSS Mani, which is equivalent to 15.62 percent post preferential share capital at a price per share of Rs 1,020.
“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 press release added.
These investments will leverage Just Dial’s existing database of an estimated 30.4 million listings and its existing consumers’ traffic of around 129.1 million quarterly unique users, it further noted.