Reliance Industries Ltd. today announced that Silver Lake and its co-investors will step up their existing investment in Jio Platforms Ltd. by pumping in an additional Rs 4,546.8 crore.
This brings the aggregate investment by Silver Lake to Rs 10,202.5 crore, RIL said in a statement today. The overall investment will translate to a 2.08% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis.
The new investment by Silver Lake adds to the $10 billion that Jio Platforms has raised in recent weeks as it starts early preparations for an overseas stock listing. Asia's richest man has also inked deals with Facebook Inc., Vista Equity Partners, KKR & Co., General Atlantic and Abu Dhabi's Sovereign Wealth Fund Mubadala.
Together, these entities have invested close to Rs 92,202.15 crore in Jio Platforms, including the additional amount by Silver Lake, according to RIL.
“We're excited to increase our exposure and bring more of our co-investors into this opportunity,” said Egon Dubran, co-CEO of Silver Lake, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Reliance Industries had earlier announced plans to restructure its telecom and digital business by consolidating the ownership of its platform apps/AI/cloud initiatives into a separate 100% subsidiary, Jio Platforms.
The restructuring was aimed at housing the digital assets within a debt-free entity and making the new entity comparable with global platforms such as Alphabet Inc., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., among others, which are largely debt-free and have created large digital ecosystems.
These investments in Jio Platforms, along with the rights issue, will now lower Reliance Industries' consolidated net to the lowest since financial year ended March 2006. The world's largest crude oil refinery aims to bring its debt to zero by the end of 2020-21.
Ambani has been spending billions of dollars to shape his online retail and telecom businesses in India. His conglomerate has also been increasingly reliant on the newer consumer units over the past few quarters to hold up its earnings when the legacy businesses face pressure.
The newer businesses, including telecommunications and retail, are likely to contribute 50% of Reliance Industries' earning in a few years from about 32% now, Ambani had said during the company 42nd annual general meeting in August last year.
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