Reliance Retail acquires Metro’s India business

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Dec 22, 2022

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd has acquired a 100 percent equity stake for Rs 2,850 crore ($344 million) in Metro Cash & Carry India business.

The acquisition will strengthen Reliance Retail’s footprint across the country as it will have access to Metro India stores and kirana network.

 Metro India currently operates 31 large format stores across 21 cities with about 3,500 employees and claims to have a customer base of 3 million.

Commenting on the investment, Isha Ambani, director at Reliance Retail Ventures Limited in a statement said, “The acquisition of Metro India aligns with our new commerce strategy of building a unique model of shared prosperity through active collaboration with small merchants and enterprises. We believe that Metro India’s healthy assets combined with our deep understanding of Indian merchant / kirana ecosystem will help offer a differentiated value proposition to small businesses in India.”

Dr. Steffen Greubel, CEO of Metro AG added, “With Metro India, we are selling a growing and profitable wholesale business in a very dynamic market at the right time. We are convinced that in Reliance we have found a suitable partner who is willing and able to successfully lead Metro India into the future in this market environment.”

Metro had reported sales of $982 million in the 2022 financial year compared to $812 million in the 2021 financial year. The business is the fourth largest retailer in the world in terms of its revenue and is headquartered in Dusseldorf.