Two more firms are eyeing a share of Reliance Industries’ $65-billion digital unit Jio Platforms, according to Bloomberg News, setting them up to be a part of a growing list of firms that have recently invested in the Indian company.
US private equity firm General Atlantic is considering investing about $850 million to $950 million in the Mumbai-based company, a Bloomberg report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The deal could be completed as soon as this month, though no agreement has been finalised and plans may change, it added.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is also considering to buy a minority stake in Jio, Bloomberg said in a separate report.
General Atlantic declined to comment on the report, while Jio and PIF did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Hours earlier on Friday, Reliance Industries announced a $1.5 billion stake sale in Jio to Vista Equity Partners, the third deal in just over two weeks.
The conglomerate cut a $5.7 billion deal with Facebook for a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio on April 22 and a few days later, it secured a $750 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake.
Together the three deals will inject a combined $8 billion in the telecom-to-energy group and help it pare its debt.
Vista’s investment gave Jio an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion ($65 billion) and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion, said Reliance, controlled by Mukesh Ambani.
The potential investments from New York-based General Atlantic and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which manages over $300 billion in assets, would inject money on top of the $8 billion which Jio has already raised.
Saudi’s PIF has been buying minority stakes in several companies. Last month, it disclosed an 8.2 per cent stake in coronavirus-hit Carnival Corp, sending the cruise operator’s shares up nearly 30 per cent higher.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio has come up with new top-up plans to support extra data use at up to 75 per cent lower rates and also made annual recharge plans 33 per cent cheaper compared to rivals by enhancing data usage limit at 4G speed to 2 GB per day. Reuters
The company has brought three new 'work-from-home' top-up plans that are available at the denominations of Rs 151 (30 GB), Rs 201 (40 GB) and Rs 251 (50 GB), which supplement usage once the daily limit is exhausted, as per the company's website.
