Fresh Funds For Ambani Led Jio

Jio Platforms Ltd. received another financial stimulus of $873 million from General Atlantic that invested in Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. It has taken a 1.3% stake in the digital services business of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Ltd.

More dollars for billionaire Ambani

The latest stimulus from the US based private equity fund General Atlantic increased the enterprise value of Reliance Industries Ltd. The company now values Rs. 5.16 trillion ($68 billion). And the total transaction raised by Jio is increased to almost $9 billion. It includes stakes bought by Facebook Inc., Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners.

Jio plans to broaden its e-commerce drive using its 400 million mobile phone subscribers that is a vast customer market from retail to education and payments. Akash Ambani, director of Reliance Jio, and Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s son said that he was delighted that a renowned global investor like General Atlantic was partnering with Jio in their journey to digitally empower India and Indians.

Ambani will make payments

Mukesh Ambani will pay more than $20 billion of net debt at Reliance with this fund. He has to pay the debt by March 2021 deadline but he has vowed to repay the debt before the deadline.

Ambani is also looking for options to raise about $7 billion by selling shares to existing holders. This move is aimed at building confidence of investors in his oil and telecommunication business. He also wants to put his Jio brand in the direct competition of Amazon and Walmart.

Source: https://bit.ly/3bGJX2X

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