New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has invested $6.6 billion since 2018 in inorganic acquisitions to develop and expand its capabilities across verticals, foreign brokerage, Morgan Stanley said in a report.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced the acquisition of downstream polyester manufacturer, Shubhalakshmi Polyesters.

The acquisition will expand RIL's polyester capacity and is inline with plans to better integrate its businesses - from oil products to chemicals and, eventually, consumer retail, Morgan Stanley said in a report.

RIL announced the acquisition of Shubhalakshmi Polyesters for US$202mn in a slump sale.

SPL has 0.25mntpa of polyester fibre, yarn and textile grade chips in Dahej and Silvassa, close to RIL's existing operations, giving it a competitive advantage over peers for raw materials sourcing (PTA and MEG); currently, it relies on RIL for 70-75 per cent of these materials, Morgan Stanley said.

The acquisition should help RIL with its plans for more downstream integration in terms of its polyester fiber business and better integration into consumer fashion verticals within retail.

The acquisition price implies 8x EV/EBITDA, on our estimates, Morgan Stanley said.