Reliance Industries on Sunday said it sold 1.16 per cent stake in its digital unit to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) for Rs 5,683.50 crore, taking the cumulative fund raising to Rs 97,885.65 crore that will help pare debt at the oil-to-telecom conglomerate.
“This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. ADIA’s investment will translate into a 1.16 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis,” the company said in a statement.
With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 97,885.65 crore from leading global investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala and ADIA in less than seven weeks.
The AIDA deal comes within days of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co picking up 1.85 per cent in Jio Platforms for Rs 9,093.60 crore on June 5. On that day, private equity fund Silver Lake invested another Rs 4,546.80 crore for additional 0.93 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.
With these investment, Reliance has sold all of the targeted 21 per cent equity in Jio Platforms ahead of a potential IPO.
Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, is a next-generation technology company. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, with 388 million mobile subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.
The deals follows Facebook picking up a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm that houses India’s youngest but largest telecom firm on April 22 for Rs 43,574 crore. Within days of that deal, Silver Lake – the world’s largest tech investor – bought a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,665.75 crore on May 4.
On May 8, US-based Vista Equity Partners bought 2.32 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 11,367 crore. On May 17, global equity firm General Atlantic picked up 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 6,598.38 crore. This was followed by US private equity giant KKR buying 2.32 per cent for Rs 11,367 crore.
On June 5, Silver Lake made an additional investment to take its stake to 2.08 per cent.