Mukesh Ambani to set up Alphabet-like Rs 1.08-trillion digital company

Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, will set up a holding company on the lines of Alibaba Group Holdings and Alphabet that will create digital services and allow for a strategic or financial investor.

The oil-to-retail conglomerate will infuse Rs 1.08 trillion ($15 billion) in the new company in the form of so-called optionally-convertible preference shares. The newly-formed unit will in turn invest the same amount in Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. and acquire the parent’s equity investment of Rs 650 billion in the wireless carrier, Reliance Industries said in a statement on Friday.

Following the equity infusion, Reliance Jio will transfer liabilities worth Rs 1.08 trillion to a subsidiary of the parent, turning Jio almost debt free by March 31, 2020, excluding airwave-related liabilities.