RIL Raises Over Rs 1 Trn In 6 Weeks, Sells 19% Stake In Jio To 6 Investors

With the 1.85 per cent stake sale for Rs 9,094 crore in its digital services subsidiary, Jio Platforms, to Mubadala Investment Company, Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) fundraising in the past six weeks from the telecom business stake sale and the first tranche of the rights issue has surpassed the Rs 1-trillion mark. In terms of fundraising, it is a record for a single company, and the number is also higher than what initial public offerings (IPOs) or disinvestments have ever raised in a single year.

India’s most valuable firm, RIL has sold nearly 19 per cent stake in Jio to six marquee foreign investors — Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, and Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala Investment Company — raising Rs 87,656 crore, and Rs 13,281 crore coming as the first tranche of the rights issue.

The Mukesh Ambani-led company plans to reduce debt with the proceeds from the stake sale.

The amount raised betters the funds raised through IPOs in its best year and is much more than what the government manages in a fiscal year as part of its disinvestment programme.

The fiscal 2017-18 was the best year for IPOs, with a cumulative fundraising of Rs 81,553 crore, while the highest the government has raised by divesting stakes in public sector companies in a fiscal year is Rs 62,883 crore during 2018-19.

Ambani may not be done yet, as RIL has several other deals in the pipeline. These include the $15-billion (Rs 1.1 trillion) stake sale in oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco; Rs 7,000-crore stake sale in fuel retailing business to BP; and also Rs 40,000-crore rights issue proceeds, which will come in two tranches next calendar.

RIL's consolidated net debt stood at Rs 1.6 trillion at the end of March 2020. The company is aiming to bring this down to zero by the end of 2020.