After last month’s announcement from Facebook that said that it will buy 9.99% equity stake in Jio Platforms for $5.7 billion or INR 43,574 crore, today private equity firm Silver Lake has announced that it will invest Rs. 5,655.75 crore / US$ 747 million into Jio Platforms for 1.15% stake. This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of ₹ 4.90 lakh crore / US$65 billion and an enterprise value of ₹ 5.15 lakh crore and represents a 12.5% premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020.
Silver Lake’s investments have included Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Alphabet’s Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and more.
This investment by Silver Lake in Jio is further testament to the world-class digital platform that Jio has built, powered by leading technologies, such as Broadband connectivity, Smart Devices, Cloud and Edge Computing, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Augmented and Mixed Reality and Blockchain, said the company.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.
Commenting on the transaction with Silver Lake, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said:
I am delighted to welcome Silver Lake as a valued partner in continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society’s transformation.
Commenting on the investment, Egon Durban, Silver Lake Co-CEO and Managing Partner, said:
Jio Platforms is one of the world’s most remarkable companies, led by an incredibly strong and entrepreneurial management team who are driving and actualizing a courageous vision. They have brought extraordinary engineering capabilities to bear on bringing the power of low-cost digital services to a mass consumer and small businesses population. The market potential they are addressing is enormous, and we are honored and pleased to have been invited to partner with Mukesh Ambani and the team at Reliance and Jio to help further the Jio mission.