Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which already raised ₹1.24-lakh crore this year, might raise another ₹5,000-10,000 crore by selling stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary Jio Platforms by December. The fund-raising would be done through one or more tranches.
Looking at the fund-raising plans, RIL would emerge net-debt free much before the end of this calendar year, sources added.
“There is a lot of interest in Jio Platforms and the company is in talks with a number of investors for additional funding, which will come in by the end of the year. The firm is already in talks with a couple of investors for the funding,” a source close to the development said.
RIL is in discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) for the next round of funding, while initial discussions for raising nearly ₹5,000 crore are on. This would be in lieu of a about 1 per cent stake, one of the sources added.
Following this, the company would look at another funding of a similar amount in this calendar year itself, which could be from one of its existing investors, another source added.
READ THE STORY: Reliance Industries to be debt-free by year-end
As of now, RIL has raised a total of ₹1.24-lakh crore (₹1.04-lakh crore from investors in Jio Platforms, ₹13,000 crore from the rights issue and ₹7,000 crore from the BP deal). The company also has a cash flow of ₹80,000 crore a year.
RIL, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, had a net debt of ₹1,61,035 crore as of March 31, 2020.
When contacted, an RIL spokesperson declined to comment.
On Saturday, Jio Platforms raised two tranches of funding — ₹4,546.80 crore from TPG Capital and ₹1,894.5 crore from L Catterton — marking its ninth and tenth funding, respectively. Since April 22, Jio Platforms had raised a total of ₹1,04,326.95 crore from leading global investors such as Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), TPG Capital and L Catterton.
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