Reliance Industries Ltd said on Friday that Intel Capital will invest Rs 1,894.50 crore ($253 million) in Jio Platforms Ltd, as the oil-to-telecom conglomerate roped in the 11th investor for its digital unit.
The investment arm of chipmaker Intel Corp will get a 0.39% stake in Jio Platforms, billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance said in a statement.
The investment takes the total amount that Jio Platforms has raised in a little more than two months from 11 investors to Rs 117,588.45 crore ($15.74 billion).
The other investors are Facebook Inc, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, L Catterton and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Facebook invested Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms, Vista Equity, PIF and KKR Rs 11,367 crore each, and General Atlantic Rs 6,598.38 crore. Silver Lake and co-investors are putting in Rs 10,202.55 crore while TPG and L Catterton are investing Rs 4,546.8 crore and Rs 1,894.5 crore, respectively.
The Intel investment value Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 trillion and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 trillion. This is 12.5% higher than the level at which social media giant Facebook had put in money, but the same as the valuation in the investments made by other investors.
“Jio Platforms’ focus on applying its impressive engineering capabilities to bring the power of low-cost digital services to India aligns with Intel’s purpose of delivering breakthrough technology that enriches lives,” said Wendell Brooks, president at Intel Capital.
Reliance Industries had created Jio Platforms late last year to house all its digital business while absorbing the entire $13.5-billion debt of its telecom business, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. This was seen as a precursor to monetise the telecom business that requires more capital investments to move to a next-generation ecosystem.
Previously, Reliance had spliced out its telecom infrastructure assets including towers and roped in Canadian investor Brookfield to seal the biggest private equity deal ever in India worth some $3.7 billion.
Reliance also plans to sell a 20% stake in its oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco for around $15 billion.
Morgan Stanley acted as the financial adviser to Reliance Industries. AZB & Partners and Davis Polk & Wardwell acted as legal counsels to RIL. Trilegal advised Intel Capital for the transaction.
