Global technology firms, sovereign funds and private equity investors are set to offload 250-252 million shares or nearly 2.8% stake in Jio Platforms Ltd’s upcoming initial public offer (IPO), people aware of the details told ET.
The IPO, estimated at a reported $4 billion, will be an offer for sale (OFS) that provides an exit for early investors rather than looking to raise fresh capital, said the people cited.
Divestments in what’s expected to be one of India’s biggest IPOs will be proportionately spread across Jio‘s 14 marquee investors, with each trimming roughly 8-8.5% of their holdings. None of the existing shareholders will make a full exit.
“The company is looking to file the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) on Friday depending on the timing of the legal vetting,” said one of the persons.
Promoter Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is not looking to cut its 67% holding in Jio Platforms, the holding company for India’s biggest mobile phone operator Reliance Jio Infocomm and other digital businesses, said the people cited. The majority of the shares will be sold by Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms, through its entity Jaadhu holdings, and Google, they being the larger outside stakeholders. After the offer, Meta is likely to see its stake reduced to 9.1% from 9.98% while Google may trim its stake to around 7% from 7.73%.
Jio, Google and Meta didn’t respond to queries.
The stakes of investors such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Vista Equity, Omicron Asia Holdings, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, ADIA-backed Platinum Jasmine Trust, TPG, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures will get lowered proportionately, said the people.
Jio is said to have nudged investors to make partial exits. “All the investors wanted to stay and hence the company made a decision to trim stakes uniformly across the board,” one of the persons said.
The combined shareholding of outside investors will drop to about 30% from 32.9% after the IPO. Investment banks have pegged Jio Platforms’ post-IPO valuation at $133-180 billion. However, analyst estimates have fluctuated, depending on market conditions.
In 2020, Jio Platforms raised more than ₹1.5 lakh crore ($20 billion) from 13 global investors in a rapid fundraising round. The deals were among the largest in Indian corporate history and helped make Jio Platforms net debt-free.
Since then, the company has expanded across 5G, broadband, digital services and enterprise solutions.
Growth will rely on emerging areas such as home broadband, enterprise services, AI infrastructure and deep-tech capabilities as well as 5G and satellite connectivity, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The biggest growth driver will be AI. The Mukesh Ambani-led RIL group has committed to invest $110 billion (₹10 lakh crore) over seven years to build AI infrastructure. It has also established a new AI subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, to house its ventures with global tech leaders Google and Meta.
Beyond consumer mobility, Jio is also looking to monetise its indigenously developed 5G stack, which includes its core network, operating software and billing systems. This could open up a new revenue stream as Jio looks to export telecom technology, potentially through partnerships and minority investments in overseas operators.
The company is also laying the groundwork for 6G development in-house with 4,000-5,000 patents filed in the domain.
