Ambani's Jio Platforms scores another investment: $1.2 billion from Mubadala
In another multi-billion-dollar deal, Jio Platforms, the company holding the telecom and digital businesses of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has agreed to raise Rs. 9,093.6 crore from Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor. The development marks the sixth major investment for the Mukesh Ambani-led company in less than six weeks and will help towards clearing RIL's ginormous Rs. 1.61 lakh crore debt. Here's more.
Selling 1.85% stake
As part of the latest deal, Mubadala has confirmed that it will be investing Rs. 9,093.6 crore ($1.2 billion) for a 1.85% equity stake in Jio Platforms. The investment values the Indian company at an equity value of Rs. 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs. 5.16 lakh crore, the same implied in the recent deals with several American equity firms.
Over Rs. 87,600 crore raised in less than six weeks
The latest capital infusion takes the total funds raised by Jio Platforms in the last two months to Rs. 87,655.35 crore. The company previously sold 9.99% to Facebook for Rs. 43,574 crore, 1.15% to Silver Lake for Rs. 5,655.75 crore, 2.32% to Vista Equity for Rs. 11,367 crore, 1.34% to General Atlantic for Rs. 6,598.38 crore, and 2.32% to KKR for Rs. 11,367 crore.
Mubadala has invested in companies like AMD and Waymo
Mubadala Investment Company is a wholly-owned investment vehicle of the government of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and has more than $229 billion worth assets under management. Notably, the company, led by CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak, has already invested in some renowned technology companies including AMD, Alphabet's self-driving technology start-up Waymo as well as SoftBank.
Looking to benefit from Mubadala's experience, says Ambani
"Through my longstanding ties with Abu Dhabi, I have personally seen the impact of Mubadala's work in diversifying and globally connecting the UAE's knowledge-based economy. We look forward to benefitting from Mubadala's experience and insights from supporting growth journeys across the world."
Jio Platforms dominates India's digital and telecom space
Jio Platforms, meanwhile, dominates India's digital space; the company's telecom business, Jio Infocomm, debuted three-and-a-half years ago, and in such a short span, it has become the largest in the country with 388 million subscribers. Beyond that, Jio Platforms also holds Reliance's home broadband business Jio Fiber, feature phone business, music streaming service JioSaavn, on-demand live television service, a payments service, among other things.
"Jio Platforms will further development of India's digital economy"
"Jio has already transformed communications and connectivity in India, and we are committed to supporting India's digital growth journey," Al Mubarak said. "With Jio's network of investors and partners, we believe that the platform company will further the development of the digital economy."
Goal to clear debts by the end of 2020
This and previous investments would ultimately help Ambani fulfill his goal of making Reliance Industries debt-free by early 2021. The company has a total net debt of Rs. 1.61 lakh crore, of which it expects to raise Rs. 1.04 lakh crore by June, RIL CFO Srikanth Venkatachari had said in a recent earnings call. The rest is expected to be cleared by the year-end.
