Indian billionaire gets $1.5b from Saudi Arabia for tech war chest

Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund will buy a 2.32% stake in Reliance Industries’ digital unit Jio Platforms for...

NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will buy a 2.32% stake in Reliance Industries’ digital unit Jio Platforms for $1.49 billion, the Indian conglomerate said on Thursday.

The deal with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund means Reliance — controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani – has now sold 24.7% of Jio Platforms and raised just over $15 billion from investors including Facebook.

The investment gives Jio Platforms – which comprises telecoms venture Jio Infocomm and music, movie apps – an enterprise value of 5.16 trillion rupees, Reliance said in a statement.



“We believe that the potential of the Indian digital economy is very exciting and that Jio Platforms provides us with an excellent opportunity to gain access to that growth,” PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said in the communique.

PIF, which manages more than $300 billion in assets, invested $7.7 billion in global equities in the first quarter.

PIF has been interested in technology and has stakes in Uber Technologies and a $45 billion allocation to SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

The Jio Platforms deals, along with a $7 billion share sale, will help Reliance meet its target of paying off $21.4 billion of net debt by the end of the year, according to the company.

Analysts say Indian billionaire's ultimate ambition is to build the next global technology company, one that can hold its own against the likes of Google, Tencent, Amazon and Alibaba.

"I welcome PIF as a valued partner in Jio Platforms and look forward to their sustained support and guidance as we take ambitious steps to accelerate India's digital transformation," Ambani said in a statement.

Reliance disrupted the country’s telecoms sector by launching Jio Infocomm in late 2016 with free voice and cut-price data.

Jio forced many rivals out of business and drove consolidation in the sector.

Ambani has always pitched Jio as a tech company rather than a traditional telecoms player.