Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Platforms Limited today announced that KKR would invest Rs 11,367 crore into Jio Platforms. This transaction values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. This is KKR’s largest investment in Asia and will translate into a 2.32% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. Over the last month, leading technology investors, such as Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic and KKR have announced aggregate investments of Rs 78,562 crore into Jio Platforms, and Facebook leads the list with around Rs 45,000 crore investment.
What Exactly is Jio Platforms?
Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is a next-generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India, with more than 388 million subscribers. Jio Platforms has made significant investments across its digital ecosystem, powered by leading technologies spanning broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality and blockchain. Jio’s vision is to enable a Digital India for 1.3 billion people and businesses across the country, including small merchants, micro-businesses and farmers so that all of them can enjoy the fruits of inclusive growth.
KKR: History and Why It Invested in Jio Platforms
Founded in 1976, KKR has a long history of building leading global enterprises and successfully investing in businesses in the technology sector, including BMC Software, ByteDance and GoJek through its private equity and technology growth funds. Since inception, the firm has invested over $30 billion (total enterprise value) in tech companies, and today the firm’s technology portfolio has more than 20 companies across the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors. In addition, India has been a key strategic market for KKR with a history of investing in the country since 2006.
Henry Kravis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of KKR, said, “Few companies have the potential to transform a country’s digital ecosystem in the way that Jio Platforms is doing in India, and potentially worldwide. Jio Platforms is a true homegrown next-generation technology leader in India that is unmatched in its ability to deliver technology solutions and services to a country that is experiencing a digital revolution. We are investing behind Jio Platforms’ impressive momentum, world-class innovation and strong leadership team, and we view this landmark investment as a strong indicator of KKR’s commitment to supporting leading technology companies in India and the Asia Pacific.”
Furthermore, it is also said that KKR is making the investment from its Asia private equity and growth technology funds. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.
