Top Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio Platforms said it secured yet another multi-million dollar investment on Saturday. L Catterton, a US private equity firm, will shell out $250 million in Jio Platforms for a 0.39 percent stake, becoming the ninth investor to back the Indian business at the height of a global pandemic.
Over the years, L Catterton, a firm known for investing in consumer tech companies, has supported dozens of young and established firms including Peloton, Vroom, ClassPass and PVR Cinemas.
The private equity group has sealed over 200 investments in premier consumer brands and acquired this 0.39 percent ownership at a $65 billion enterprise valuation. Including Saturday's TPG and L Catterton investments, Jio Platforms-parent Reliance Industries has now unloaded around 22.38 percent of Jio 's interest, encashing Rs 104,326.65 crore for the two.
The tremendous spree of fundraising at Jio Platforms includes global investors including Facebook, Vista Equity Partners, Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala, General Atlantic, ADIA, TPG, and now L Catterton.
TPG, which has been involved in the country for nearly 20 years, makes the investment from its funds from TPG Capital Asia, TPG Growth, and TPG Tech Adjacencies.
This contract matches its previous largest related investment in India, where it had backed UPL with a $600 million check to buy Arysta LifeScience Inc. based in the US in 2018. For L Catterton, this is India's biggest transaction and, unlike its previous bets, it sticks to its core consumer-themed investments.
So far, the business empire of Mukesh Ambani has earned some 1.02 trillion by selling shares to some of Silicon Valley's most famous names and the rest of the world. The new transaction marks the ninth stake sale of India's biggest 4G telecom and development network in less than eight weeks.
Reliance Jio Infocomm will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms, which offers a communication platform to over 388 million subscribers. Stake sales are part of the RIL's plan to free up the debt by March. The goal is most likely to be reached by December, with the parent company mopping up Rs53,124 crore from a rights issue that closed on June 4.
The bullishness of investors on Jio Platforms, which has accrued more than 388 million subscribers, is showing their rising interest in India's telecom industry. In recent weeks, media reports have reported that Amazon is considering buying stakes worth at least $2 billion in Bharti Airtel, India's third-largest telecom operator, while Google had talks in Vodafone Concept, the second-largest telecom operator, for a similar transaction.
