Jio Platforms' fund raising exceeds Rs1 trillion, RIL arm seals 2 more deals
1 min read 13 Jun 2020, 10:53 PM ISTJio has so far raised Rs104,326.95 crore by selling 22.38% stake to 10 investors that include Facebook, General Atlantic, KKRThe stake sales are part of RIL's plan to be debt-free by March. It raised Rs53,124 crore via a rights issue that closed 4 June
PremiumNEW DELHI: Jio Platforms on Saturday announced two more stake sales, taking its total fund raising beyond the Rs1-trillion mark in less than 8 weeks. The company has now raised Rs1,04,326.95 crore from 10 investors by selling 22.38% equity of the company, according to a press release issued by the Mukesh Ambani company today.
The company will raise Rs4,546.80 crore from TPG against 0.93% stake sale and Rs1,894.50 crore against 0.39% to L Catterton, another private equity firm, according to two separate press releases issued today by the Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary.
L Catterton typically invests in fashion and retail companies, both at the heart of Jio Platforms' ambitious plans as it morphs from a telecom company to an umbrella technology platform that also sells items for daily consumption.
The transactions give Jio Platforms an equity valuation of Rs4.91 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs5.16 trillion, the same as most of the deals have taken place at.
The list of investors in Jio includes Facebook, KKR, Vista Equity Partners, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Mubadala and General Atlantic.
The first and the largest stake sale out of the nine was that of 9.99% to Facebook for Rs43,573.62 crore, announced on 22 April.
All the 10 transactions are subject to regulatory approvals, with the one with Facebook likely to undergo a tighter scrutiny given concerns over net neutrality.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, which provides connectivity platform to over 388 million subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.
The stake sales are part of RIL's plan to be debt-free by March. Most likely, the target is likely to be achieved by December, the parent company having mopped up Rs53,124 crore from a rights issue that closed on 4 June.
Of the Rs43,574 crore that it will receive from Facebook, Jio plans to use Rs28,000 crore to redeem optionally convertible preference shares (OCPS) of its parent RIL and retain Rs15,000 crore in its books, Jio's top management had said in a conference call on 22 April.
