US-based Silver Lake to invest ₹5,655.75 crore into Jio Platforms for 1.15% stake

Mumbai: Reliance Jio on Monday announced that the US-based equity firm Silver Lake would be investing a sum of Rs 5,655.75 crore into Jio Platforms. This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.90 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.15 lakh crore.

The investment by Silver Lake, as the company explained, represents a 12.5% premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020.

The company announced that the investments are subject to regulatory and customary approvals. After the approvals, the Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.

“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,” Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said in a statement.

“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,” he added.

Notably, the latest investment comes shortly after Reliance Jio and Facebook announced a partnership as a part of which the social media giant acquired a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms by $5.7 billion or Rs 43,574 crore. The deal made Facebook the largest minority stake holder in the company and valued Jio at $65.95 billion.

As a part of the partnership, WhatsApp and Reliance Retail’s JioMart would work together to let people access nearby Kirana stores easily. The two companies would also focus on 60 million micro, small and medium businesses in India.