New Delhi: Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries continues with its acquisition streak. After acquiring stakes in NetMeds, Future Group and Flipkart, it has now taken a controlling stake in the popular furniture etailer UrbanLadder.
RRVL has acquired 96 per cent equity holding in Urban Ladder Home Décor Solutions Pvt Ltd (Urban Ladder) against an investment of Rs 182.12 crore. RRVL has a further option of acquiring the balance stake, taking its shareholding to 100 per cent of the equity share capital of UrbanLadder.
RRVL has proposed to make a further investment of up to Rs 75 crore, which is expected to be completed by December 2023.
The acquisition further helps Reliance to expand its product portfolio and widen its offerings to the consumers. Some of these categories are apparel, electronics, white goods, groceries, medicines, furniture, and others.
“The aforesaid investment will further enable the group’s digital and new commerce initiatives and widen the bouquet of consumer products provided by the group, while enhancing user engagement and experience across its retail offerings.”
UrbanLadder was one of the earliest entrants in online furniture retailing. It started operations in February 2012 and has been selling home furniture and décor products. It also has a chain of retail stores in several cities across India.
As per a BSE listing, UrbanLadder’s audited turnover was Rs 434.00 crore, Rs 151.22 crore and Rs 50.61 crore, and Net Profit / (Loss) of Rs 49.41 crore, Rs (118.66) crore and Rs (457.97) crore in FY 2019, FY 2018 and FY 2017 respectively.
The furniture retailer has created a big online community and strong recall. It has nearly 830k+ members on Facebook and 185k members on Instagram. It is also expected to have a strong pool of databases of consumers that will help Reliance new commerce initiatives in the long run.