Continuing to defy the general economic statement during these coronavirus time, the Reliance Jio fund-raising juggernaut is showing no signs of stopping. Jio Platforms, the parent company that owns Jio’s telecom and digital businesses, has announced yet another fund-raise today. The incoming capital stands at a staggering $1.5B, and has be brought in from Vista Equity partners at an equity valuation of $65B.
The money raised is a part of extended fund-raising round that Reliance Jio has embarked upon, with an ultimate goal of offloading close to 20% stake in the company. Vista’s investment will translate into a 2.32% equity stake in
Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis, Jio said in a statement. This would make the private equity firm the largest individual shareholder in Jio Platforms behind Reliance Industries and Facebook. Jio Platforms has now raised a record $8.2B (₹60,596.37 crore) in total, in the past three weeks, all of it when the global economy is battered by coronavirus pandemic.
Vista equity partners has more than $57 billion in cumulative capital commitments globally, with its network companies collectively representing the 5th largest enterprise software company in the world by market value.
Commenting on the fundraise, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said, “Like our other partners, Vista also shares with us the same vision of continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. They believe in the transformative power of technology to be the key to an even better future for everyone.”
The Vista investment comes just weeks within two other large financing rounds that Jio undertook. Facebook was the one to kick things off, with a $5.7Bn investment at a valuation of close to $58 Billion. Then came Silver Lake, investing$748M for a 1% stake, raising Jio Platforms’ valuation to $65Bn within a span of 2 weeks.
In a recent quarterly earnings calls, Ambani had made it clear that more investments are on the way for Jio, wherein he is looking to dilute close to 20% of the overall stake. The fund-raising activity is largely to clear a rather ballooning net debt that Reliance Industries has on its books.
