US-Based General Atlantic To Buy 1.3% Stake In Jio Platforms For Rs 6,598 Crore

Reliance Industries announced on Sunday that US-based private equity firm General Atlantic will invest Rs 6,598.38 crore for a 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. That marked Jio Platforms' fourth major deal with a US-based technology investor within a month, following investments from internet major Facebook and private equity companies Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners. The General Atlantic deal values Reliance Industries' digital unit Jio Platforms, which houses Reliance Jio Infocomm, at an an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore, the conglomerate - led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani - said in a statement.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, Reliance Industries said.

“General Atlantic shares our vision of a Digital Society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic's proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio," said Mr Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries.

With its deal with General Atlantic, Reliance Jio has so far raised Rs 67,194.75 crore in less than four weeks. Together, the four deals will help the Reliance Industries group pare its debt. Mr Ambani plans to make Reliance Industries net debt-free by 2021.

The string of investments began in April with Facebook announcing an investment of Rs 43,574 crore for a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. In May, Silver Lake announced an investment of Rs 5,656 crore in Jio Platforms, which was followed by Rs 11,367 crore from Vista Equity Partners.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is also considering to buy a minority stake in Jio, news agency Bloomberg reported last week.