Corporate Grapevine

Published: Apr 15, 2022
Updated: Apr 15, 2022

Ambani’s growing yen for acquisitions

Mukesh Ambani is on an acquisition spree. Reliance Retail has made a bid for Boots, a British pharmacy chain owned by Walgreens. Reliance will be competing with CVC Capital and Bain Capital, both of whom have evinced interest in buying the company.

The acquisition will cost around $10 billion, and one wonders whether Ambani will make such a big bet overseas after writing off close to $12 billion investments made in the US shale gas sector.

Though analysts say Ambani is planning a offline pharmacy chain in India which would complement Reliance Retail’s e- commerce company NetMeds, the acquisition of Boots would give it a large footprint in Europe. The bids for Boots are already in and the winner will be announced soon.

On another front, there are strong rumours in Ahmedabad that Gujarat Samachar, the numero uno Gujarat daily, is being taken over by the Adani group. The paper stands out for its independent thinking and is not seen as a pro-BJP newspaper. These rumours have been denied — not by the Adanis but by a Reliance spokesman. Now, fresh rumours have started that the Ambanis too may throw their hat in the ring to acquire the daily.