General Atlantic, Saudi Arabian wealth fund to invest in Jio: Report

Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms may soon see investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund and General Atlantic as parent Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) seeks to diversify its operations beyond oil and petrochemicals, global news agency Bloomberg reported. US private equity firm General Atlantic is considering a minority stake, while Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is discussing a potential investment of $850 million to $950 million in Jio, the report said citing unidentified sources.

In April, social media giant Facebook signed a deal worth $5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake, while Silver Lake Partners and Vista Equity Partners earlier in May announced an investment of about $2.25 billion in Reliance Jio. The deals could help RIL in a long way as it plans to cut its net debt to zero by March 2021, said experts.

On April 30, RIL had announced its first rights issue in three decades at a share ratio 1:15. The issue amount is Rs 53,125 crore. It has fixed May 14 as the record date for determining equity shareholders eligible to apply for the forthcoming rights issue. The company has obtained in-principle approvals from the BSE and the NSE for the proposed rights issue of 42,26,26,894 equity shares. The rights issue is also expected to help it raise funds to cut its net debt.

Meanwhile, Jio last month posted 177.5 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 2,331 crore for the three months ended March 31, fuelled by rising subscriber base and recent tariff hike. The net profit of Jio stood at Rs 840 crore in the year-ago period. Seen sequentially, the net profit grew 72.7 per cent when compared to Rs 1,350 crore in December quarter.

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