India's Reliance Industries has raised a record Rs1.04 trillion ($13.7 billion) in less than eight weeks from sale of minority stakes in its digital unit Jio Platforms to global investors, including Mubadala Investment and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia).
The latest marquee investor to join the Jio bandwagon is the private equity firm L Catterton, buying 0.39 per cent stakes for $250 million.
The announcement, which makes L Catterton the ninth investor to back Jio in eight weeks, comes hours after the three-and-half-year-old telecom network said it was selling stake worth $600 million to TPG for 0.93 per cent stake. The new investment, like that of TPG, values Jio Platforms at $65 billion.
Jio Platforms has now secured more than $13.7 billion by selling about 22.3 per cent stake to Facebook, Silver Lake, KKR, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, and L Catterton in the past eight weeks.
Early this month, Mubadala announced a $1.2 billion deal to buy 1.85 per cent stake, followed by Adia buying 1.16 per cent stake for $752 million.
Jio, India's largest telecom operator with over 388 million subscribers, has an equity value of $65 billion and an enterprise value of $68 billion.
"We look forward to partnering with Jio, which is uniquely positioned to execute on its vision and mission to transform the country and build a digital society for 1.3 billion Indians through its unmatched digital and technological capabilities," said Michael Chu, co-chief executive of L Catterton, in a statement.
Investors' bullishness on Jio Platforms, which has amassed over 388 million subscribers, shows their growing interest in India's telecom market. Media reports have claimed in recent weeks that Amazon is considering buying stakes worth at least $2 billion in Bharti Airtel, India's third largest telecom operator, while Google has held talks for a similar deal in Vodafone Idea, the second largest telecom operator.
"Jio is a disruptive industry leader that is empowering small businesses and consumers across India by providing them with critical, high-quality digital services," said Jim Coulter, co-CEO of TPG - which has more than $79 billion of assets under management including investments in technology companies like Airbnb, Uber and Spotify.
The Jio Platforms deals, along with a Rs 531.24 billion rights issue, will help Reliance, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, meet its target of paying off Rs1.61 trillion of net debt by the end of the year, according to the company.
L Catterton, which has a partnership with French luxury group LVMH and investment firm Groupe Arnault, concentrates on consumer-focused brands such as Peloton, Vroom, ClassPass, Owndays and FabIndia.
