Reliance Jio-Silver Lake deal: Key highlights

American private equity giant Silver Lake Partners has bought 1 percent of Jio Platforms for $750 million in a deal that values the digital unit of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) at $65 billion.

Commenting on the transaction with Silver Lake, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director - Reliance Industries Ltd, 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. Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. Silver Lake is one of the most respected voices in technology and finance. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian Digital Society’s transformation.”

Here are the key highlights of the deal:

> The investment is Rs. 5,656 crore in rupee terms for a 1.15 percent stake

> At this equity value, this is 52 percent of the total market cap. of Reliance

> This reaffirms that Jio continues to grab significant global attention for its deep understanding of the Indian markets, the rapid digitisation opportunity post-covid and our capabilities to bring cutting-edge technologies and tools such as AI, Blockchain, AR/VR, Big data into play for all Indians.

> The world’s largest tech investor is investing in Jio. SLP has a terrific track record of investing in some of the largest and successful tech companies globally such as Twitter, Airbnb, Alibaba, Dell Technologies, ANT Financials, Twitter, Alphabet’s Waymo and Verily amongst others.

> This is the first sizable investment by SLP in India.

> This reaffirms Jio’s tech. capabilities and the potential of the business model even in this COVID-19 world and beyond.

> This is at a 12.5 percent premium over the FB deal announced on April 22, 2020.

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