Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners will invest Rs11,367 crore in Jio Platforms for a 2.32% stake, the third deal after Facebook and Silver Lake’s share acquisition plans over the last two weeks.
“This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore,” Reliance Industries said in a statement on Friday.
With the latest deal, Jio Platforms is set to net a combined Rs 60,596 crore for the unit of Reliance Industries which comprises mainly its telecom business under Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the largest in the country with over 388 million subscribers. Reliance’s other digital properties and investments such as Jio Cinema, Jio Saavn and Haaptik are housed under Jio Platforms.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, the company said.
“Like our other partners, Vista also shares with us the same vision of continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. They believe in the transformative power of technology to be the key to an even better future for everyone,” RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in the statement.
“In Robert and Brian, whose family hails from Gujarat, I found two outstanding global technology leaders who believe in India and the transformative potential of a Digital Indian Society. We are excited to leverage the professional expertise and multi-level support that Vista has been offering to its investments globally for the benefit of Jio,” he added.
This is Vista’s first sizable investment in India, RIL said. Currently, Vista portfolio companies have a significant presence in India with over 13,000 employees.
Vista will become the largest investor in Jio Platforms after RIL and Facebook. Facebook said on April 22 it would invest $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake. Then on May 4, US private equity firm Silver Lake said it will invest Rs 5,655.75 crore ($747 million) in Jio Platforms for a 1.15% stake.
Vista is the world’s largest exclusively tech-focused private equity fund, and has over $57 billion in capital commitments and 20 years of investments exclusively in enterprise software and technology companies.
Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista, said that the PE firm believes in the potential of the digital society that Jio is building for India.
“We are thrilled to join Jio Platforms to deliver exponential growth in connectivity across India, providing modern consumer, small business and enterprise software to fuel the future of one of the world’s fastest growing digital economies,” he added.
RIL added that the investment reaffirms Jio’s continuing attraction among global investors for its deep understanding of the Indian markets, the rapid digitisation opportunity post-Covid and its capabilities to bring cutting-edge technologies and tools such as AI, Blockchain, AR/VR, Big data into play for all Indians.
“Diverse marquee investors are becoming long-term shareholders of JPL because of a unique set of technologies and platforms under one entity. There are no similar opportunities available anywhere else globally. And it is an endorsement of the quality of the management,” the Indian oils-to-telecom conglomerate said.
Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries and AZB & Partners and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co served as legal counsels to Vista.
Source: Economic Times