Silver Lake to Acquire Stake Worth $750 Million in Reliance

American private equity company Silver Lake has announced that it will be purchasing stake worth $750 million in the digital unit of India based Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI). This announcement comes barely two weeks after tech company Facebook Inc. (FB) invested $5.7 billion in the same business.

The digital unit of Reliance Industries is known as Jio Infocomm.

Since the year began, Reliance announced its plan of cutting its total debt which stood at $21.4 billion by then. The company further said it would be selling shares worth $7 billion, additionally it has been holding financing rounds to help reduce the debt.

For the first quarter of the year ended March 30, Reliance posted a profit decline of 39% attributing it to the global slump of the oil and gas industry caused by a sharp fall in oil prices and lower fuel demand.

After the investment, Silver Lake will be holding 1% stake in Jio whereas Facebook equity will be 12.5%. Reliance Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, expressed how happy the company is of having a reputable firm as Silver Lake on board as an investor.

Silver Lake has an outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally. We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian digital society’s transformation,” said Ambani.

Just to mention big names in which Silver Lake has invested in include computer manufacturer Dell Inc. (DELL), social media network Twitter Inc. (TWTR) and movie production company AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) among others.

 

Leave a comment