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.
As per the agreement finalised, 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 consumer traffic of around 129.1 million quarterly unique users (as on March 31, 2021), it further noted.
RRVL Director Isha Ambani said the deal with 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."
Mani, who started Just Dial 25 years ago, said the partnership with Reliance Retail would help the company to further realise its vision. "Our vision has evolved to not only provide search and discovery but drive commerce across merchants through our B2B platform and enable further consumer to merchant commerce given our platform engagement. Our strategic partnership with Reliance enables us to realize this vision and transform the business going forward," Mani said.
