BP pays $1 billion to Jio for joint venture as telco sells sliver to Qualcomm
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BP, the company formerly known as British Petroleum, has paid $1 billion to Indian petrochemical giant Reliance to set up a joint venture branded as Jio-bp.
The pair said the venture would target the fuel and mobility markets, and "leverage Reliance's presence across 21 states and its millions of consumers through the Jio digital platform". It will sell retail and aviation fuel, and eventually move into electric car charging, the companies said.
"We are honoured to be a strategic partner with Reliance -- India's most valuable company -- and pleased that our partnership has grown in both substance and spirit over this past decade," BP CEO Bernard Looney said.
"Reliance's digital capabilities, technical expertise, and reach complement our international fuels and service offers."
On Sunday, Jio announced it had sold 0.15% of its equity to Qualcomm Ventures. Qualcomm has committed to investing up to ₹730 crore, around $97 million. Jio said the sale gave it an enterprise value of ₹5.16 lakh crore, just shy of $69 billion.
During May, Jio sold off parts of itself to private equity firms General Atlantic for ₹6,600 crore, Vista Equity Partners for ₹11,367 crore, Silver Lake put ₹5,656 crore into the company, and KKR invested ₹11,367 crore.
A month prior, Facebook parted with ₹43,574 crore for a 10% stake of the Indian telco.
In June, the Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment picked up a 1.85% stake in Jio for ₹9,093 crore.
For the full year ended March 31, Reliance Jio posted standalone net profit of ₹5,562 crore, an increase of 88% on the year prior.