Mukesh Ambani scores 5th cheque! KKR to invest Rs 11,367 cr into Jio Platforms

Reliance Industries on Friday announced that KKR would invest Rs 11,367 crore into Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. This is KKR's largest investment in Asia and will translate into a 2.32 per cent equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. KKR is making the investment from its Asia private equity and growth technology funds.

Over the last month, leading technology investors such as, Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic and KKR have announced aggregate investments of Rs 78,562 crore into Jio Platforms.

Watch: WHY FB TEAMED UP WITH JIO

Also read: Silver Lake to invest Rs 5,655 cr in Jio Platforms at higher valuation than Facebook deal

RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani welcomed KKR, one of the world's prominent financial investors, as a partner. "KKR shares our ambitious goal of building a premier Digital Society in India. KKR has a proven track record of being a valuable partner to industry-leading franchises and has been committed to India for many years. We are looking forward to leveraging KKR's global platform, industry knowledge and operational expertise to further grow Jio," he said.

Also read: Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms bags Rs 11,367 cr investment from Vista after FB, Silver Lake

Henry Kravis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of KKR, said, "Jio Platforms is a true homegrown next generation technology leader in India that is unmatched in its ability to deliver technology solutions and services to a country that is experiencing a digital revolution. We are investing behind Jio Platforms' impressive momentum, world-class innovation and strong leadership team, and we view this landmark investment as a strong indicator of KKR's commitment to supporting leading technology companies in India and Asia Pacific."

The digitisation opportunity in India after COVID-19 pandemic and Jio's capabilities in cutting-edge technologies and tools such as AI, Blockchain, AR/VR, Big data have attracted the global giants, said the company. On May 17, General Atlantic announced investment worth Rs 6,598.38 crore into Jio Platforms (JPL) for 1.34 per cent stake. The stake purchase in JPL was the largest investment by New York-based General Atlantic in Asia.

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

JPL was created as a subsidiary of RIL in October last year to bring together all digital and mobility businesses under one roof. The new entity has become the parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm and applications like MyJio, JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews and JioSaavn, besides content-generation ventures. Thus, the operating company Reliance Jio became a step-down subsidiary of RIL.

For making JPL debt-free, the parent company has infused Rs 1.08 lakh crore in it. They want to build JPL like Alibaba and Google, which claim high valuations in the stock markets. RIL has been using the cash flow from its flagship petroleum refining business to build the telecom and retail subsidiaries all these years. The Indian conglomerate has spent about Rs 4 lakh crore to build Reliance Jio.

Edited by Manoj Sharma