Reliance Chairman, Mukesh Ambani joins the likes of hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio and Google co-founder Sergey Brin as the most recent ultra-rich individuals to choose Singapore for their family offices, the institutions established to oversee the affairs of wealthy clans.
The Mumbai-based billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, Charman of Reliance Industries Limited is establishing a family office in Singapore. He has appointed a manager to engage staff and get the new business up and running, who asked not to be identified since the topic is private. According to one source, the Ambanis have also chosen real estate.
Singapore has become an attractive location for the ultra-rich to establish family offices due to its low taxes and reasonably secure environment. As of 2020, 400 family offices had been formed in Singapore, according to Singapore government data. According to the report, 54% of global family offices intend to boost asset allocations in the Asia Pacific over the next five years.
Mukesh Ambani’s decision to establish the family office is part of his bigger plan to take his retail-to-refining enterprise global and acquire properties outside of India.
While announcing the appointment of Aramco’s chairman to Reliance’s board in 2021, the billionaire told his shareholders that this signified the “beginning of internationalisation” of his firm, without going into further detail. In the next months, people will learn more about their overseas ambitions, he said at the time.
Procedure to set up a family office in Singapore?
The procedure of establishing a family office in Singapore can be broken into four basic categories:
OBJECTIVES comprise the family’s vision and goals, the level of the family’s involvement, and the assets to be handled.
BUSINESS PLAN that covers jurisdiction analysis, legal structure, tax planning, operating cost and benefit, and services to be delivered.
SETTING UP: This procedure involves incorporation, licence exemption application, global investor programme application, recruitment, and the formation of advisory, investment, and family boards, among other things.
OPERATIONS: Include important performance measures, monitoring and reviewing, and the development and extension of family office operations such as philanthropy.
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate corporation. Reliance Industries was previously established as Reliance Commercial Corporation in the 1960s. Dhirubhai Hirachand Ambani started the business with Champaklal Damani, and the headquarters is in Mumbai, India.
Reliance Industries Ltd. is involved in the manufacturing and refining of petroleum, petrochemicals, retail, and telecommunications. The following segments make up how it functions: O2C (oil to chemicals), oil and gas, retail, digital services, financial services, and others. The O2C division covers bulk wholesale marketing, petrochemicals, aviation fuel, fuel retailing through Reliance BP Mobility Limited, and refining.
Crude oil and natural gas are explored for, developed, and produced by the Oil and Gas industry. The consumer retail sector also comprises a variety of connected services. A variety of digital services are offered as part of the digital services segment. The management and use of the firm’s specified resources for a variety of tasks, such as non-banking financial services and insurance broking, are included in the Financial Services segment. The management and deployment of the company’s specified resources to diverse operations, such as non-banking financial services and insurance broking, are included in the Financial Services section. Media, SEZ development, and the textile industry are all included in the Others section.
Reliance acquired Stoke Park Ltd. for $79 million in April 2021, gaining a famed UK property that served as the backdrop for two James Bond films. This year, it also spent $98.15 million for an indirect 73.4% stake in Mandarin Oriental New York and $80 million for a beachfront house in Dubai.
Ambani, who is worth an estimated $83.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Wealth Index, wants the Singapore family office up and running within a year. His wife Nita Ambani is also assisting to set it up.
Reliance has been shifting its focus away from its traditional oil refining and petrochemicals sector and toward e-commerce, green energy, and expanding its retail base across India. In 2020, its technology company Jio Platforms Ltd. received more than $25 billion in funding from prominent Silicon Valley investors such as Meta Platforms Inc. and Google. It has also outlined ambitious plans to compete with Amazon.com Inc. in the country, especially in streaming.
