Anil Ambani-The Ace Dealmaker

An Egyptian activist named Suzy Kaseem rightly said, “Being different and thinking different makes a person unforgettable. History does not remember the forgettable.” And this is precisely what rings in true for Anil Ambani’s case. Albeit, the pile of debts that he is meticulously trying to pare, what we can’t forget the wide array of accomplishments that he has got to his kitty. In the business circles it is said that during his hey days, Anil could sniff the most lucrative deals as good as a shark sniffs the odour of blood in the ocean even it is miles away. There was something about his finesse for numbers that lent him with the insights that what could make for a fruitful and a promising deal. And then, one can’t also forego his inclinations towards sectors that catered to the futuristic vision. So here’s a list of top deals that were done him that pose him as one of the top dealmakers of the Indian business sector of all times:

The Joint-Venture with the Andhra Pradesh Government:

In July 2007, Anil Ambani forged an alliance with the Andhra Pradesh government so as to make some portion of his gas share available for industrial units in the state.

The Launch of Nationwide GSM Services:

During the month of October of 2007, got the government’s nod to launch nationwide GSM services, the country’s dominant mobile platform. As a matter of fact, Macquarie Research stated, “We forecast RCOM to continue to be the number two wireless operator in spite of the delay in launching GSM services”. In those times, the shares of Reliance Communications due to this deal were valued at $38 billion, trading at 31.6 times forecast earnings.

Soros Investment:

In February 2008, Anil Ambani announced a deal with Investor George Soros where the latter had acquired a 3% stake in Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. This deal valued Reliance Entertainment at a net-worth of $3.3 billion (Rs. 13,0355 crore) bringing Reliance Entertainment in the same league as that of SunTV Network and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

Deal with Canada’s Recognia

In April 2008, Reliance Money joined hands with Canada’s Recognia, a leading provider of technical charts for stocks so as to double presence to 20,000 outlets. The idea behind the expansion plan was to add another 10,000 outlets taking the total number of outlets to 20,000 and to expand its reach to 5,161 tehsils of the country.

The Groundbreaking Deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks

In June 2008, Reliance ADA Group closed a deal with Steven Speilberg’s DreamWorks SKG to form a new movie venture.Reliance provided Spielberg and company with $500-$600 million in equity and and this gave Reliance a large stake in the new company.

The US Firm Deal for Buying Digital Business:

Reliance Big Entertainment acquired the digital images business of US-based DTS Inc in an all cash deal for $7.5 million (Rs30 crore). This was the first acquisition by Reliance Entertainment overseas in the digital services space.

JV with China’s Wanda:

Reliance Group and China’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd in December 2012, announced a tie-up to develop real estate and movie theatre projects, the latest partnership between Ambani and China.

The groups, which did not give any financial details, said they will first look to build integrated township projects in India involving a combined area of about 20 million square feet across two projects.

JV with France’s Dassault Aviation:

In 2016, Reliance Group announced a JV with Dassault Reliance Aerospace Pvt. Ltd, the French-aircraft maker Dassault Aviation SA that is in line to benefit from a Rs24,500 crore seven-year offset deal. The company for India, inked a deal to buy 36 Rafale aircraft from Dassault for Rs59,000 crore.

Deal for Advent into OTT Platforms:

In 2017, Reliance Entertainment’s video-on-demand platform BIGFLIX entered into a content partnership agreement with Atrium TV.With the deal in place, BIGFLIX exclusively streamed Atrium’s drama series.

Deal with Nippon Life Asset Management:

In May 2019, Reliance Capital (RCap) signed a definitive agreement with Nippon Life to sell its stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM). Under the agreement, the Japanese firm spiked its shareholding in RNAM from 42.88 per cent to 75 per cent by buying shares from public shareholders and RCap.