Reliance Spends USD 13 Billion On Acquisitions In Five Years

New Delhi:  Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has spent USD 13 billion on acquisitions in the past five years across new energy, telecom, retail and media businesses to script a pivot away from core oil and petrochemicals business to clean energy and consumer-facing verticals. Last week, Reliance bought oncology platform Karkinos Healthcare for Rs 375 crore, adding another stack to its diagnostic and digital healthcare ecosystem, Morgan Stanley said in a report. "Over the past five years, RIL has announced USD 13 billion in acquisitions with 14 per cent in new energy, 48 per cent in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), 9 per cent in retail, and increasingly more in healthcare," it said.

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This included USD 6 billion for the acquisition of companies and assets in the media and education business and USD 2.6 billion for telecom and internet verticles. It spent USD 1.7 billion on acquisitions in new energy and USD 1.14 billion on retail, as per Morgan Stanley. RIL's biggest acquisition in the last five years has been the buyout of local cable TV and internet service providers Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for USD 981 million. The report said it spent USD 771 million on buying Norwegian-headquartered solar panel maker REC Solar Holdings and another USD 767 million on buying search and database firm JustDial.

Reliance Acquires Full Stake in Karkinos Healthcare To Strengthen Its Integrated Healthcare Ecosystem

Last week, it acquired a 100 per cent stake in Karkinos Healthcare, increasing its exposure to the diagnostic and healthcare ecosystem following previous investments like HAGI, Netmeds and Strand Life Science. As per Morgan Stanley, Karkinos provides technology-driven, innovative solutions for early detection, diagnosis and cancer management. It acts like a care partner during a patient's cancer treatment. Other investors in the company have included Tata Group, Rakuten, Mayo Clinic, and Hero Enterprise. "RIL aims to leverage its technological expertise and vast distribution networks to create more integrated healthcare system-digital health platforms, telemedicine services and advanced healthcare delivery models," the brokerage said.

Reliance Spends $13 Billion on Acquisitions, Expands into Healthcare

Karkinos was incorporated in India on July 24, 2020, and is in the business of providing technology-driven, innovative solutions for early detection, diagnosis, and cancer management. It had a turnover of about Rs 22 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Karkinos has cancelled the existing outstanding 30,075 equity shares held by the erstwhile shareholders of the company. Its previous prominent investors included Ewart Investments Ltd (100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons), Reliance Digital Health Ltd (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries), Mayo Clinic (US), Sundar Raman (Director at Reliance Foundation Youth Sports and former COO of Indian Premier League since 2008), and Ravi Kant (ex-MD of Tata Motors).

Karkinos Revolutionizes Cancer Care with Affordable Solutions and Expanding Partnerships

The company focuses on providing end-to-end services related to early detection and effective cancer treatment at substantially lower than prevailing rates while still generating healthy profitability. To meet this vision, Karkinos started partnering with hospitals to provide oncology services (testing, radiation therapy, etc.). The company has partnered with around 60 hospitals till December 2023. It is through a subsidiary setting up a 150-bed multispecialty cancer hospital at Imphal, Manipur. Its source of income was said to be via Advanced Cancer Care Diagnostics and Research (ACCDR), Distributed Cancer Care Network (DCCN), tie-ups with corporates for early cancer diagnosis, and cancer care hospitals going forward. 

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