What Is Silver Lake, the US-Based Private Equity Firm Investing in Reliance Jio

Silver Lake has previously invested in companies like Twitter, Dell, Motorola Solutions, and Airbnb.

By Vineet Washington | Updated: 4 May 2020 17:17 IST

What Is Silver Lake, the US-Based Private Equity Firm Investing in Reliance Jio

Silver Lake was founded in 1999

Highlights

Silver Lake’s valuation of Reliance Jio is at $65 billion
The deal was announced on Monday by Reliance Industries Ltd
Silver Lake has been actively investing in the technology industry

Jio will be receiving yet another significant investment, just weeks after Facebook invested Rs. 43,574 crores in Jio platforms. This time, the Rs. 5,656 crores investment is coming from American private equity firm Silver Laker that invests in technology related industries. The announcement was made by Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday and according to Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Silver Lake has an “outstanding record of being a valuable partner for leading technology companies globally.”

What is Silver Lake

Silver Lake, as mentioned above, is an American private equity firm that focuses on the technology industry. It was founded in 1999 and is now among the largest technology investors in the world. As per its website, it has approximately $40 billion (roughly Rs. 3.03 lakh crores) in combined assets. It has a vast portfolio that includes companies like Twitter, Motorola Solutions, Dell Technologies, Alibaba Group, Airbnb, and Unity, among several others. Some of the other industries that Silver Lake has invested in include healthcare IT, entertainment and media, 3D printing, financial technology, and cybersecurity.

As per a report by The Wall Street Journal, the latest deal with Jio will be Silver Lake's third major investment in the past four weeks. It has invested in companies that have experienced setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic like Expedia Group and Airbnb.

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Silver Lake's Jio investment

The investment gives Silver Lake slightly more than a 1 percent stake in Jio Platforms that includes Reliance's Jio Infocomm, its music, as well as video streaming apps. With this investment, Silver Lake now values Jio at $65 billion (roughly Rs. 4.9 lakh crores). In a statement, Ambani said, “We are excited to leverage insights from their global technology relationships for the Indian digital society's transformation.”

Further, with this deal, as well as several fund-raising activities, Reliance Industries Ltd plans to eliminate $21.4 billion (roughly Rs. 1.62 lakh crores) of net debt by the end of the year.

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