CCI nod to Reliance Retail's acquisition of METRO AG's India biz

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the 100% acquisition of Metro AG’s Cash and Carry business in India by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.

"C-2023/02/1000 Commission approves acquisition of METRO Cash and Carry India Private Limited by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited," CCI said in a tweet.

In a bid to expand its retail portfolio across India, Isha Ambani-led Reliance Retail in December last year signed a pact with the German-based Metro AG to acquire its Cash and Carry business unit in India in a deal worth ₹2,850 crore. METRO India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based METRO AG, operates cash and carry stores primarily under the 'METRO' brand in India. The company, which operates as a business-to-business (B2B) wholesaler, started operations in India in 2003 and introduced the cash-and-carry business format in the country. It currently operates 31 large format stores across 21 cities with about 3,500 employees.

The energy-to-conglomerate had then said the acquisition will add uniquely positioned multi-category large format stores to Reliance Retail’s store footprint across India and further strengthen its new commerce business. The transaction is expected to be completed by March 2023.

The acquisition of METRO AG's Cash and Carry business is in line with Reliance Retail’s strategy of having its footprint across Kirana stores. Through the acquisition, Reliance Retail will have access to a wide network of METRO India stores which are located in prime locations across key cities including a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, strong supplier network and some of the global best practices implemented by METRO in India.

"With the acquisition of METRO India, Reliance Retail will continue to build reach across the country to serve the entire spectrum of Indian society i.e. households, kiranas and merchants, HoReCa (hotel, restaurant, and cafe), and small and medium enterprises and institutions, and be the partner of choice, and enable win-win opportunities for producers, brand companies and global suppliers," the company had said earlier.

On Wednesday, the shares of Reliance Industries slumped 0.5% to hit a 52-week low of ₹2,263 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange. During the session on Wednesday, the shares of Reliance Industries opened marginally higher at ₹2,284.90 as against the closing price of the previous session at ₹2,276 on the BSE. During the session, the market capitalisation of the company stood at ₹7.69 lakh crore with as many as 1,28,748 shares exchanging hands on the BSE as against the two-week average of 2.34 lakh shares. The company hit a 52-week high of ₹2,855 on April 29 last year.