Silver Lake raises stake in Jio platforms, invests additional Rs 4,546 cr

Private equity firm Silver Lake has invested an additional Rs 4,546.80 crore in Reliance Industries' digital arm Jio Platforms to raise its stake in the firm to 2.08 per cent.

Reliance Industries in a statement said with this, aggregrate investment by Silver Lake in Jio Platforms will be Rs 10,202.55 crore.

Silver Lake on May 4 had invested Rs 5,655.75 crore in Jio Platforms for a 1.15 per cent stake.

With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 92,202.15 crore from leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than six weeks.

Commenting on the investment, Egon Durban, Silver Lake Co-CEO and Managing Partner, said, "We are excited to increase our exposure and bring more of our co-investors into this opportunity, further supporting Jio Platforms in its mission to bring the power of high-quality and affordable digital services to a mass consumer and small businesses population." "The investment momentum behind Jio validates a compelling business model and underscores our admiration for Mukesh Ambani, his team and their courageous vision in creating and building one of the world's most remarkable technology companies."

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said, "Silver Lake and its co-investors are valued partners as we continue to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. We are pleased to have their confidence and support, as well as the benefit of their leadership in global technology investing and their valued network of relationships, as we drive the Indian Digital Society's transformation."

"I would like to emphasise that Silver Lake's additional investment in Jio Platforms, within a span of five weeks during the Covid-19 pandemic, is a strong endorsement of the intrinsic resilience of the Indian economy, which will surely grow bigger with comprehensive digital enablement," he added.

Silver Lake has about $40 billion in assets under management, including investments in Twitter Inc, Dell Technologies Inc and movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc .

Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is a next-generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India, with millions of subscribers.  Jio Platforms houses Reliance's telecoms arm Jio Infocomm and its music and video streaming apps.

Jio Platforms has made significant investments across its digital ecosystem, powered by leading technologies spanning broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality, and blockchain.

Jio's vision is to enable a Digital India for 1.3 billion people and businesses across the country, including small merchants, micro-businesses and farmers so that all of them can enjoy the fruits of inclusive growth.