Jio Gets INR 5.6K Cr Investment From PE Giant Silver Lake

After onboarding Facebook as one of its investors, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance’s Jio Platforms, on Monday, raised an additional INR 5,655 Cr from private equity firm Silver Lake at an equity value of INR 4.90 Lakh Cr and an enterprise value of INR 5.15 Lakh Cr.

With this deal, Silver Lake represents a 12.5% premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020, as per Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fillings.

Ambani, chairperson and managing director at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), said, “I am delighted to welcome Silver Lake as a valued partner in continuing to grow and transform the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians… We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society’s transformation.”

Silver Lake has approximately $40 Bn as combined assets under management and committed capital. The company focuses on tech and tech-enabled opportunities and has invested in companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, ANT Financial, Alphabet’s Verily and Waymo units, Dell Technologies, Twitter and more.

Reliance Industries Limited believes that investment from Silver Lake has a special significance, especially in the wake of economic disruption due to Covid-19 pandemic, as it would facilitate the company’s mass digitisation plan.

In the BSE fillings, Reliance added that comprehensive digitisation will be a vital component to revitalise the Indian economy and the company aims to not deprive anyone of the “tremendous” new opportunities, employment, and businesses arising out of India’s 360-degree digital transformation.

Even with Facebook’s INR 43,574 Cr ($5.7 Bn) investment, Reliance Jio plans to boost the digital economy. “In the post-Corona era, I am confident of India’s economic recovery and resurgence in the shortest period of time. The partnership will surely make an important contribution to this transformation,” Ambani, in the subsequent BSE filing, said.

Meanwhile Facebook’s David Fischer (chief revenue officer) and Ajit Mohan (vice president and MD of Facebook India), in a blog post, elaborated that by combining Reliance Jio’s grocery delivery business JioMart and WhatsApp, Facebook can enable more people to connect with businesses, ship and ultimately purchase products in a seamless mobile experience.

In another significant development, JioMart which made its debut on WhatsApp in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan, has doubled the weekly credit limit allocated to the kirana stores to INR 60K due to the increased demands and order volume.

As per a Times Of India report, JioMart is offering incentives on the bulk purchases funded by it. The amount will be credited back to kiranas, when they make bulk purchases.