General Atlantic, an US investment firm, will be investing ₹6,600 crore in Jio Platforms for 1.34% stake in the telecom unit of Reliance Industries, the company said in a statement.
General Atlantic had in the past helped fund Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.,
"This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of ₹ 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ₹ 5.16 lakh crore," said Jio Platforms. This investment continues to reaffirm Jio as a next generation software product and platform company, the company said in a statement.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said: “I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s huge growth potential. 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."
The string of investments from technology giants and private equity firms will go toward slashing debt at Reliance Industries, which is controlled by Mukesh Ambani. The outside money also helps set a valuation for Jio, which until recently has been largely owned by the billionaire’s conglomerate.
The deals, along with its plan to sell $7 billion in new shares, will help Reliance meet its target of eliminating $21.4 billion of net debt by the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is also considering to buy a minority stake in Jio, Bloomberg said in a news report a few days ago.