Reliance gets $1.5 billion from Saudi for Jio even as the $15 billion Aramco deal waits in the wings

• The deal gives PIF a 2.32% stake in Jio.
• With this, Jio has raised a total of ₹115,693.95 crore.
• The Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund – Public Investment Fund, comes under the royal family of Mohammad bin Salman‎.

Reliance Jio has secured its 11th deal from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund – Public Investment Fund for ₹11,367 crore ($1.5 billion). The deal gives PIF a 2.32% stake in Jio, and takes Jio’s equity value to ₹ 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value to ₹5.16 lakh crore.

With this, Jio has raised a total of ₹115,693.95 crore ($15.2 billion) in nine weeks. The Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund – Public Investment Fund, comes under the royal family of Mohammad bin Salman‎. MBS, as he is popularly known, is one the biggest tech investors. Some joke that Silicon Valley is funded by MBS – with investments in Uber, Lyft and $45 billion in SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

In August 2019, the Saudi state-owned oil refiner, Aramco ⁠— one of the largest in the world ⁠— had agreed to buy a 20% state in the Reliance Industries’ oil to chemicals business for $15 billion. That deal is still in the waiting line while the Jio stake sale has taken precedence.

“We at Reliance have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for many decades. From Oil Economy, this relationship is now moving to strengthen India’s New Oil (Data-driven) Economy, as is evident from PIF’s investment into Jio Platforms. I have greatly admired the defining role PIF has played in driving the economic transformation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani on the deal.

“We believe that the potential of the Indian digital economy is very exciting and that Jio Platforms provides us with an excellent opportunity to gain access to that growth. This investment will also enable us to generate significant long-term commercial returns for the benefit of Saudi Arabia’s economy and our country’s citizens, in line with our mandate to safeguard and grow the national wealth of the Kingdom,” said Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of PIF in a statement.

Earlier in May, Saudi Arabia had transferred $40 billion into the PIF for investments.

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