Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries will buy Stoke Park, which owns and manages a hotel, sports and leisure facilities in Buckinghamshire, UK, for 57 million pounds, said an exchange filing. The acquisition will add to Reliance's consumer and hospitality assets, the filing said.
The property's rolling golf course has been famous since James Bond played a game with Auric Goldfinger there in the 1964 blockbuster. Since then, the estate with the Georgian-era mansion set in the midst of 300 acres of parkland has also been a backdrop in productions like "Bridget Jones's Diary" and Netflix's British Royal Family drama "The Crown".
In real life, its 49 luxury bedrooms and suites, 27-hole championship golf course, 13 tennis courts and 14 acres of private gardens attracts wealthy tourists - including the Ambani family themselves - from across the world. The latest marquee acquisition for Mukesh Ambani's retail-to-refining conglomerate marks its pivot toward consumer offerings and yet another high-profile British brand purchase. Reliance bought struggling UK-based toy store chain Hamleys in 2019 and is seeking to revive it.
Flush with $27 billion in fresh capital after selling stakes in Reliance's retail and digital units last year, Ambani is helming a transformation as he seeks to build consumer services into an equal-sized pillar for Reliance Industries, paring dependence on profits from its traditional oil refining business. Acquiring marquee global brands underscores that strategy.
The group "will look to enhance the sports and leisure facilities at this heritage site," Reliance said in the filing. Ambani's conglomerate has equity holding in EIH Ltd, which runs the chain of five star Oberoi Hotels.
The UK is emerging as a real estate hotspot for wealthy Indians. Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India - the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world - agreed to rent a property in Mayfair for about 50,000 pounds ($69,300) a week, a record for the exclusive London neighborhood, Bloomberg reported last month.
