Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail acquires sole control of Just Dial

Some companies in Ratan Tata's TATA Group and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries are at loggerheads. During the Corona Crisis, both of these large conglomerates began to make inroads into new areas.

The TATA Group is doing well in a number of areas. A number of TATA Group companies are also offering discharge returns. Tata is also making its debut in the ninth sector.

TATA Group is one of the most successful industries in the country.

Reliance Industries is seeing a similar picture to a large extent. Mukesh Ambani is dominating Reliance Industries in many fields.

However, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani now has a big plan to take the lead in the retail sector. Mukesh Ambani had made a big offer directly to a company to reach billions of businessmen.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail Ventures has taken sole control of Just Dial Limited in accordance with the SEBI Regulations, with effect from September 1, 2021. The Just Dial deal will allow Reliance access to the 25-year-old listings company’s merchant database.

Attempts were also made by the TATA group in April to buy a stake in Just Dial, but the talks fizzled out. Reliance Group then entered into the deal and finalized it.

Reliance Retail, in a statement to the stock exchanges today, said on July 20, 2021, it had acquired 1.31 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each of Just Dial at a price of Rs 1,020 per equity share from Just Dial founder and CEO VSS Mani via the block window facility. The acquisition represents 15.63 per cent of the post-preferential issue paid-up equity share capital of Just Dial.

It said on September 1, 2021, Just Dial, after the preferential issue, allotted 2.12 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 1022.25 per equity share including a premium of Rs 1,012.25 per equity share). It represented 25.35 per cent of the post-preferential issue paid-up share capital of Just Dial to Reliance Retail.

Reliance Retail Ventures, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited and holding company of all the retail companies under the RIL Group, had reported a consolidated turnover of Rs 157,629 crore and net profit of Rs 5,481 crore in FY21.

Just Dial, on the other hand, is India's leading local search engine platform that provides search-related services to users across India through multiple platforms such as websites, apps, over the telephone and text.

Just Dial had 30.4 million listings and 129.1 million quarterly unique users across the web, mobile, App and voice platforms as of 31-Mar-2021.

An agreement has been reached between Reliance Retail and Just Dye founder and CEO VSS Mani. As per the block deal, Reliance bought 1.31 crore equity shares of Just Dial for Rs 10 each. The purchase price is Rs 1,020 per equity share.