Reliance Industries Ltd said on Sunday Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), which invests money globally on behalf of UAE's emirate, is investing Rs 5,683.5 crore ($752 million) in Jio Platforms Ltd, as the Indian conglomerate roped in the seventh investor for its digital unit.
This comes two days after Reliance brought in another investment arm of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Mubadala Investment Company that said it will invest Rs 9,093.60 crore ($1.2 billion) in Jio.
ADIA's investment will translate into a 1.16% stake in Jio Platforms, Reliance said. Together, ADIA and Mubadala will own 3.01% stake in Jio.
With these investments, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 97,885.65 crore ($13 billion) from seven investors—Facebook Inc., Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala and ADIA—in a little more than a month.
Facebook is investing Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms, Vista Equity Rs 11,367 crore and General Atlantic Rs 6,598.38 crore. Silver Lake and co-investors are putting in Rs 10,202.55 crore while KKR is investing Rs 11,367 crore.
The ADIA investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion. This is the same as the valuation in the investments made by private equity firms KKR, Silver Lake, Vista Equity, Mubadala and General Atlantic, but 12.5% higher than the level at which social media giant Facebook had put in money.
Reliance, led by billionaire and India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, had created Jio Platforms late last year to house all its digital businesses. At the time, it had absorbed the $13.5 billion debt of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, its telecommunications arm. The fundraising from the seven investors will help Ambani pare the debt.
The seven deals show that Reliance isn’t slowing down its dealmaking activities despite the worldwide turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Even before these flurry of deals, Reliance had sealed or unveiled a couple of big-ticket transactions with foreign investors. Last year, Reliance had sliced out its telecom infrastructure assets including towers and roped in Canadian investor Brookfield to seal the biggest private equity deal ever in India worth some $3.7 billion.
Also last year, it announced plans to sell a 20% stake in its oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco for around $15 billion. The company has also raised around $7 billion from a rights issue this month.
Morgan Stanley acted as financial adviser to Reliance Industries. AZB & Partners, and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsel.
