Ambani's Reliance Jio may get another $1 billion deal this week

Mukesh Ambani’s Jio may get another big investment this week as three of the largest Middle East-based sovereign wealth funds are in talks to invest in Reliance Industries Limited’s digital arm. Sources familiar with the matter said that this can potentially add to the roster of the marquee investors which have piled into the business.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. is nearing a deal to invest around $1 billion in Ambani’s Jio Platforms Limited and an announcement can come this week, reported Bloomberg. Reliance Industries, which is owned Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is also in discussions with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as well as Saudi Arabia’s The Public Investment Fund, sources said.

Any new investment for the firm will add to the $10 billion which Jio Platforms has already raised in recent weeks as it starts on the early preparations for an overseas listing. Some of the high-profile backers including Facebook Inc., KKR are betting on Jio’s access to India’s huge consumer market. Jio, with its technology, has the potential to shake up the traditional industries in the country from retail, education to payments.

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The slew of large investments by the technology giants and from the private equity firms, will go toward Mukesh Ambani’s firm goal of slashing the debt at Reliance Industries. The outside money for the firm will also help in setting a valuation for Jio Platforms, which until recently, has majorly been owned by the conglomerate itself.

The negotiations in the matter could still be delayed or fall apart. The shares of Ambani’s Reliance have risen 2.4 per cent this year, outperforming the 18 per cent drop in the benchmark S&P (Bombay Stock Exchange) BSE Sensex Index.