Reliance Retail Venture Limited (RRVL) has signed an agreement to acquire 100% stake in Metro Cash and Carry India Private Limited on December 22. Metro Cash and Carry India Private Limited is the part of German firm Metro AG operating in India. Metro AG is selling its India Operations for Rs. 2850 crore to RRVL. ''Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, today signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100 percent equity stake in Metro Cash & Carry India for a total cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore, subject to closing adjustments,'' said in a joint statement. Metro Cash and Carry India Private Limited was the first Company in India to introduce Cash and Carry business model. It operates in distributor and service provider category. It has established trusted parternship with samll businesses and kiranas. It offers a wide range of products to its customers such as householf goods, electronics, apparel, beauty and health products, vegetables and fruits, meat and fish, grocery and dairy etc. The Company is spread over 21 cities with 31 large stores across the country. The Company, with 3500 employees, is serving 30+ lakhs customers out of which 10+ lakhs are loyal customers. In FY22, the Company recorded all time highest sales of Rs. 7700 crore. It is the best performance of the Company since its inception. EBITDA has increased 19% over previous financial year. The Company has a healthy assets. "Through this acquisition, Reliance Retail gets access to a wide network of METRO India stores located in prime locations across key cities, 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. The acquisit will further strengthen Reliance Retail's physical store footprint and ability to better serve consumers and small merchants by leveraging synergies and efficiencies across supply chain networks, technology platforms and sourcing capabilities," the company said in a statement. "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. Metro India is poineer and key player in B2B market and has built a solid multi-channel platform delivering strong customer experience. We believe Metro India's healthy assets combined with our deep understanding of Indian merchant/kirana ecosystem will help offer a differentiated value proposition to small business in India," said Isha Ambani, the director of RRVL. "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," said Steffen Greubel, the CEO of Metro AG. The transaction is expected to take place by March 2023, due to some regulatory requirements. https://unlistedzone.com/shares/reliance-retail-limited-unlisted-shares/