After Facebook, General Atlantic to invest in Jio Platforms, picks 1.34 per cent stake
After Facebook, General Atlantic has picked up stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms, for Rs 6,598.38 crore. The Mukesh Ambani firm Sunday announced that General Atlantic’s investment will translate into a “1.34% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis”.
Jio Platforms is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited that works on digital apps, digital ecosystems and the mobile service.
General Atlantic is a global growth equity firm that invests in the technology, consumer, financial services and healthcare sectors.
The investment in Jio Platforms will be GA’s largest investment in Asia.
With this, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 67,194.75 crore from leading technology investors, including Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic, in less than four weeks, the company statement Sunday said.
The statement quoted Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, as saying, “I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s huge growth potential. General Atlantic shares our vision of a Digital Society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio.”
The investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of ₹ 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of ₹ 5.16 lakh crore.
Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic, was quoted as saying in the Reliance statement, “As long-term backers of global technology leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, we could not be more excited about investing in Jio. We share Mukesh’s conviction that digital connectivity has the potential to significantly accelerate the Indian economy and drive growth across the country. General Atlantic has a long track record working alongside founders to scale disruptive businesses, as Jio is doing at the forefront of the digital revolution in India.”
Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries and AZB & Partners, and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsel. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. acted as legal counsel to General Atlantic.
Before this in April, Facebook had picked up a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms at Rs 43,574 crore ($5.7 billion), making it the largest FDI for minority investment in India.
The investment by Facebook put the value of Jio Platforms at Rs 4.62 lakh crore pre-money enterprise value — that is $65.95 billion at a conversion rate of Rs 70 to a Dollar. Their first collaboration is around the Jio.
Indian express
