General Atlantic to invest Rs 6,598 crore in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms

US-based private equity firm General Atlantic will invest Rs 6,598.38 crore to acquire a 1.34 per cent stake in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms. This happens to be the fourth big investment in Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, in last one month.

"This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore," Reliance Industries said in a press release.

General Atlantic's investment will translate into a 1.34 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis, it said.

With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 67,194.75 crore from leading technology investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic in less than four weeks.

Commenting on the development, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, "I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India's huge growth potential. General Atlantic shares our vision of a Digital Society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitisation in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic's proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio."

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The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, RIL said.

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Reliance Industries and AZB & Partners, and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsel. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. acted as legal counsel to General Atlantic.

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General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with a 40-year track record of investing in the Technology, Consumer, Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. It has a longstanding tradition of backing disruptive entrepreneurs and companies around the world, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Ant Financial, Box, ByteDance, Facebook, Slack, Snapchat, Uber and other global technology leaders.

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"As long-term backers of global technology leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, we could not be more excited about investing in Jio. We share Mukesh's conviction that digital connectivity has the potential to significantly accelerate the Indian economy and drive growth across the country," said Bill Ford, Chief Executive Officer of General Atlantic.

Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio, said General Atlantic's endorsement and partnership energises Jio's young team to set, and achieve, even more ambitious goals in our onward march. "Jio is committed to make a digitally inclusive India that will provide immense opportunities to every Indian citizen especially to our highly talented youth," he added.

By Chitranjan Kumar