Another week, another big shot has brought a slice of Jio. Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company will invest around Rs 9093.6 crore in Jio Platforms, the Indian telco arm of Reliance Industries Limited.
This latest investment pushes Jio Platforms equity valuation to a new high of Rs 4.91 lakh crore. Whereas the enterprise value would be around Rs 5.16 lakh crore. With this investment, Mubadala would be owning a stake of 1.85 per cent in Jio Platforms.
With six investment in its basket, Jio Platforms has raised around Rs 87,655.35 crore in less than two months. This would also translate to roughly 18.97 per cent stake sale of the company to these six investors. Other five investors include Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic and KKR.
Mubadala Investment Company portfolio span across several fields, including petroleum, renewable energy, aerospace, satellite compunctions, agriculture, healthcare, metals and mining. It owns the electronic chip manufacturing company Global Foundries. It also owns a stake in several big technology companies like AMD.
“We have seen how Jio has already transformed communications and connectivity in India, and as an investor and partner, we are committed to supporting India’s digital growth journey. With Jio’s network of investors and partners, we believe that the platform company will further the development of the digital economy,” commented Mubadala Investment Company managing director and Group CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak said.
In the last three-and-a-half-year Reliance Jio has disrupted the entire digital ecosystem of India. With cheap data plans, the telco has gathered more than 388 million subscribers, thus wearing the crown of top telecom operator in India. The telco has built its world-class eco-system with services like JioTV (live tv streaming), JioSaavn (music streaming), JioPay (payment service), JioFibre broadband, LYF smartphones and smart devices. The best part here is that the telco has been offering these devices, applications, content and services at affordable tariffs as part of Jio Digital Life.
“Through my longstanding ties with Abu Dhabi, I have personally seen the impact of Mubadala’s work in diversifying and globally connecting the UAE’s knowledge-based economy. We look forward to benefitting from Mubadala’s experience and insights from supporting growth journeys across the world,” commented Mukesh Ambani, RIL chairman and managing director.
All this investment are subject to Indian regulatory approvals. But the one from Facebook will more likely to undergo tougher scrutiny given concerns over net neutrality.