Vista to Buy Stake in Ambani’s Jio Platforms for $1.5 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Vista Equity Partners will buy a 2.3% stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s Jio Platforms for 113.7 billion rupees ($1.5 billion), making the private-equity firm the largest investor in the digital arm after the parent and Facebook Inc.

With the latest investment, Jio Platforms has raised about 606 billion rupees from technology investors, the Indian company said in a statement Friday. Facebook announced buying about 10% for $5.7 billion last month, followed by a $753 million investment by Silver Lake Partners a few days later.

“We are excited to leverage the professional expertise and multi-level support that Vista has been offering to its investments globally for the benefit of Jio,” Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in the statement.

The Indian billionaire, Asia’s richest person, has been announcing a string of fund-raising plans as part of a proposal to slash debt at his Mumbai-based conglomerate and also to bolster investor confidence following the pandemic-led crash in crude oil prices. Last month, Reliance Industries said that the group’s net debt would be slashed to zero ahead of its previous target of early 2021.

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