Intel’s investment arm will pay some US$255-million for a small stake in Reliance Industries’ digital unit Jio Platforms, the latest in a slew of share sales that have helped the Indian conglomerate pay down debt.
Reliance has now sold just over a quarter of Jio Platforms, the unit that houses its telecommunications venture Jio Infocomm and its music and movie apps, raising $15.8-billion from investors including Facebook and KKR & Co.
The deals highlight Jio Platforms’ potential to become the dominant player in India’s digital economy.
The telecoms unit has already decimated several rivals with cut-throat pricing, while Reliance is also using Jio Platforms’ technology in its new e-commerce venture that seeks to rival Amazon.com and Walmart’s Flipkart. Jio Platforms is also working on connected cars, security systems and smart homes.
The sale of the 0.39% stake for 18.95-billion rupees gives Jio Platforms an enterprise value of 5.16-trillion rupees ($69-billion), Reliance said in a statement.
The deals and a $7-billion share sale have helped Reliance become net-debt free, the company said last month. It had previously planned to rid itself of net debt of just over $21-billion by the year-end.
The oil-to-retail conglomerate, controlled by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, plans to wrap up most of its private fundraising for Jio Platforms by the third quarter of 2020 and then explore a potential public listing in the US in 2021, a source familiar with matter has said. — Reported by Sankalp Phartiyal and Chris Thomas, (c) 2020 Reuters
