Reliance Industries, an Indian multinational conglomerate, has announced that it has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in the UAE to trade crude oil, petroleum, petrochemical products, and agricultural commodities.
The new subsidiary, Reliance International Ltd (RINL), which will be launched in the Abu Dhabi Global Market is yet to commence operations, the parent company revealed in an exchange filing while adding that it had invested $1 million in the new business. The investment did not require any government or regulatory permits, Reliance said in the filing.
According to reports, Reliance Industries, which operates the world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar, Western India, gave no reasons for its decision to build the new unit or its decision to locate it in the UAE, despite the fact that it is in line with the company’s expanding international focus.
The company has already acquired stakes in a number of overseas exploration and manufacturing assets, and in June it signed an agreement for a multibillion-dollar chemical project with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) at the new Ta’ziz Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais, marking the group’s first greenfield overseas project.
In June, Reliance Industries announced the appointment of Saudi Aramco Chairman Mr. Yasir Al-Rumayyan as a director of Reliance’s board, claiming that this marked the “beginning of Reliance’s internationalization.” The group hopes to finalize this year a deal to sell a 20 percent stake in its oil-to-chemical business to Aramco.
Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s strategic sovereign fund, invested $1.2 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms, India’s leading telecom service provider, in June last year. In addition, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invested $753.4 million in Jio for a 1.16 percent equity stake.
