Reliance Industries to merge Reliance Petroleum

27 February 2009

The board of Reliance Industries (RIL) will meet on 2 March to consider merger of Reliance Petroleum (RPL) with itself. The merger will be effective retrospectively from 1 April 2001.

The merger plan was announced after the close of trading hours. In separate but identical filings both Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum informed the stock exchanges of their boards' proposals for merger.

The Reliance Industries scrip closed 1.97 per cent lower at Rs1,265.05, while Reliance Petroleum scrip dropped 1.23 per cent to Rs76.20.

Reliance Industries holds 70.38 per cent stake in Reliance Petroleum, while Chevron holds another 5 per cent. The rest is held by financial institutions and the public.

The promoters of  $34.5-billion Reliance Industries held 49.03 per cent stake in the company as of 1 December 2008.

The deal is expected to also lead to Reliance Industries acquiring the 5 per cent stake that Chevron holds in Reliance Petroleum, company sources said.