Silver Lake invests Rs 5,656 crores in Jio

New Delhi: Following the footsteps of Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, the world's largest tech investor, on Monday agreed to invest Rs 5,655.75 crore to buy a 1.15 per cent stake in billionaire Mukesh Ambani's digital unit that houses India's youngest but biggest telecom firm.

The investment in Jio Platforms is at a 12.5 per cent premium to the Facebook's $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) investment for a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm.

The deal, as well as some other strategic and financial investments in works, will help Ambani cut debt at its oil-to-telecom conglomerate, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). "Silver Lake will invest Rs 5,655.75 crore into Jio Platforms," Reliance said in a statement.

"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 and represents a 12.5 per cent premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020."

Jio Platforms is a subsidiary of RIL.

Facebook had bought a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) at an enterprise value of Rs 4.62 lakh crore.

Strategic and financial investors are to form 20 per cent of Jio Platforms - half of this has already been picked by Facebook. Silver Lake is one of the investors for the remaining and more such investments are likely.

Ambani, 63, Chairman and Managing Director of RIL, had in August last year set a target of March 2021, to make his conglomerate net debt-free.

But thanks to the Facebook deal, a Rs 53,125 crore rights issue, Silver Lake investment, and more stake sale to companies such as Saudi Aramco, the target is likely to be achieved by December.

"Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, is a next-generation technology company building a digital society for India by bringing together Jio's leading digital apps, digital ecosystems, and India's #1 high-speed connectivity platform under one umbrella," the statement said.

"Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which provides connectivity platform to over 388 million subscribers, will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms," it added.