12 June, 2020: The Saudi sovereign wealth fund and General Atlantic are among firms exploring investments in billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s digital business, as Asia’s richest man seeks to expand his operations outside oil and petrochemicals, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Saudi Arabia’s $320 billion Public Investment Fund is considering buying a minority stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s Jio Platforms unit, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
General Atlantic, the U.S. investment firm that helped fund Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., is discussing a potential investment of about $850 million to $950 million in Jio Platforms, the people said. The deal could be completed as soon as this month, though no agreement has been finalized and plans may change, the people said.
Any new investment into Jio Platforms will add to the $8 billion deal run that Mr Ambani has sealed in recent weeks. Facebook Inc. in April agreed to pay $5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake in the digital unit, while Silver Lake Partners and Vista Equity Partners last week said they would invest about $2.25 billion in total.
