Public Investment Fund invests 11,367 crore in Reliance Jio

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday said it has sold a 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) for Rs 11,367 crore, taking the cumulative fund raising to about Rs 1.16 lakh crore in two months.

Starting with Facebook Inc on April 22, Reliance has sold almost 25 per cent of equity in Jio Platforms - the maximum reports suggest the company intends to dilute to financial investors.

The investment by Saudi sovereign wealth fund is 'at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore', the company said in a statement. With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 115,693.95 crore from some of the leading global investment powerhouses at a time when the world is deeply impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a recession kind of environment for the global economy. This is PIF's largest investment into the Indian economy to date.

Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, "We at Reliance have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for many decades. From oil economy, this relationship is now moving to strengthen India''s New oil (data-driven) economy, as is evident from PIF''s investment into Jio Platforms."

Over the past two months, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate has announced the sale of about $14 billion of assets, completed a Rs 53,124 crore rights issue and slowed the run rate of new investment by a quarter. These will help Reliance meet its target of paying off Rs 1.61 lakh crore of net debt by the end of the year.