Mumbai: A group led by Silver Lake Partners agreed to invest another Rs. 45.5 billion ($602 million) in Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd.’s digital arm, in the latest vote of confidence in billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s online push.
The US private equity firm and its co-investors will hold a 2.1% stake in Reliance’s Jio Platforms unit, according to a Mumbai exchange filing Friday. The deal follows Silver Lake’s initial investment of Rs. 56.6 billion in the company announced last month.
Jio Platforms combines Reliance’s digital assets with its wireless carrier, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., into a holding company aimed at becoming a top e-commerce and payments operator in the vast Indian market. The latest deal helps bolster Ambani’s plan to shift his conglomerate away from oil and petrochemicals toward faster-growing consumer businesses.
The digital unit has now raised about $12 billion in less than six weeks from a lineup of marquee buyers including Facebook Inc. and US buyout firm KKR & Co. Earlier Friday, Reliance announced that Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. will invest $1.2 billion in Jio Platforms. It’s now valued at about $65 billion.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are also in advanced talks to buy stakes in Jio Platforms, people familiar with the matter said earlier.
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