MUMBAI : The Board of Directors of Reliance Industries (RIL) today approved the formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary for digital initiatives with the investment of ₹1,08,000 crore in the subsidiary through optionally convertible preference shares, the company said in a press statement.
The subsidiary will acquire RIL’s equity investment of ₹65,000 crore in its telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
Consequent to the above, RJIL will become virtually net debt-free company by 31st March 2020, with exception of spectrum-related liabilities, RIL said.
“With the completion of the majority of RJIL’s capital expenditure, for optimizing operational efficiencies and better monetization of the Core Digital Connectivity Platform, tower and fiber passive infrastructure assets of approximately Rs. 1,25,000 crore were demerged from RJIL in March 2019 to Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). Post this demerger, RJIL has become asset-light having a balance sheet size of Rs. 2,37,000 crore,” RIL said.
RIL said that like global technology peers, the subsidiary with negligible leverage makes a compelling investment proposition for both strategic and financial investors, many of whom have evinced strong interest in partnering with us.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL said,” “This new Company will be a truly transformational and disruptive digital services platform. Given the reach and scale of our digital ecosystem, we have received strong interest from potential strategic partners. We will induct the right partners in our Platform Company, creating and unlocking meaningful value for RIL shareholders.”
The proposed consolidated structure will be compliant with all statutory requirements, RIL said.
[“source=livemint”]