(Reuters) – Indian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) said on Friday that Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co will buy a 1.85% stake in its digital unit, Jio Platforms, for 90.93 billion rupees ($1.21 billion).
Reliance has now sold a combined 19% interest in Jio Platforms, which houses movie, music apps and telecoms venture Jio Infocomm, in six fundraising deals including a 9.99% stake sale to Facebook Inc (FB.O) for $5.7 billion.
The interest in Jio Platforms highlights its potential to become the dominant player in India’s digital economy. The telecoms unit has already decimated several rivals with cut-throat pricing and is counting on Reliance’s retail network to expand into e-commerce.
The Jio Platforms investment is the largest in an Indian firm by Mubadala, which is the second-biggest state investor in Abu Dhabi after Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), managing about $240 billion in assets.
The other recent investors in Jio Platforms are private-equity firms General Atlantic, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, and KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N).
Morgan Stanley served as a financial adviser to Reliance Industries, the company said in a statement.
Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Hesham Abdul Khalek in Cairo; Editing by Chris Reese and Anil D’Silva
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