Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has agreed to increase its stake in IMG-Reliance Ltd. by buying out IMG Worldwide LLC for no more than Rs 52.08 crore from the sports management business.

IMG(International Management Group) is a worldwide sports, communications, fashion, and talent management company operating in more than 30 countries.

Its headquarter is situated in New York. India’s largest multinational conglomerate company Reliance Industries Ltd had partnered with IMG in a joint venture to promote and develop sports, entertainment, and fashion in India in 2010.

IMG works in a joint venture with four major partners in high emerging markets – India, China, Brazil, and Turkey. IMG Reliance (India), CC-TV IMG (China), IMM (Brazil), and IMG Dogus (Turkey) all work to promote sports, fashion, and entertainment in their areas.

Mumbai-based IMG-Reliance is a joint venture between RIL and IMG Worldwide to develop a platform to promote and market sports, entertainment, and fashion.

IMG-R is one of the largest firms in sports marketing, licensing, and sponsorship in India.

In the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) T-20 cricket tournament, IMG-R closed 36 deals on a wide range of products and franchises for the ongoing IPL season, including Indian cricket board BCCI and sponsor of Dream11.

IMG-R is also on board with market marks such as BKT Tires, BoAt, FanCode, and Jio with a combination of licensing and support services.

IMG Singapore Pte., A wholly owned subsidiary of IMG, owns a 50% stake in IMG-R and RIL has entered into direct contracts to acquire shares held by IMG Singapore Pte Ltd in IMG-R, to cover -Rs 52.08 Crores. Following the completion of the acquisition, RIL will rebuild the IMG-R for sports and fashion partnerships as a fully owned company.

Reliance said no government or regulatory approval is needed to acquire shares in the IMG-R and is expected to be completed this calendar year. The acquisition does not enter into affiliate group transactions and denies interest to any promotional group companies in the transaction.

The sports arm, IMG-Reliance, reported a return of Rs 181.70 crore (Rs 25.79 crore GST) and a total profit of Rs 16.35 crore for the FY19-20. At FY19 the company had a turnover of Rs 195.55 crore with a total profit of Rs. 19.25 crore and in FY18, turnover of Rs 195.55 crore and a profit of Rs 15.82 crore.

Clearly, Reliance Industries Ltd. is spreading its business at high speed and is capable of swallowing all other small fishes in the market.