After selling its East-West gas pipeline to an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) sponsored by Brookfield, Reliance Industries Ltd has used this instrument to shed the liabilities of telecom arm Reliance Jio by around Rs 1,07,000 crore.

InvITs are like mutual funds that pool in money from various entities to invest in infrastructure assets.

Reliance Industries (RIL) stands to gain on crude oil supply security and substantial debt reduction, if reports suggesting a deal with Saudi Aramco are true. This is not the first time reports on a possible deal have emerged. “These talks have been around for two to three years,” said an expert, who did not wish to be named.

Reliance Industries (RIL) has signed a deal with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) for a strategic stake sale in six very large ethane carriers (VLECs), the company said on Wednesday.

RIL had sourced these carriers as part of its Ethane gas project to transport the compound from the United States to its plants in India. Currently, MOL, a Japanese shipping company, is operating these vessels and will become a joint owner once the deal gets regulatory approvals. The Mukesh Ambani-promoted company did not disclose the deal value or the size of the stake being sold.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude oil producer, is in “serious discussions” to acquire up to a 25 percent stake in Reliance Industries’ refining and petrochemicals businesses, the Times of India reported on Wednesday. A minority stake sale could fetch around $10 billion to $15 billion, valuing the Indian company’s refining and petrochemicals businesses at around $55 billion to 60 billion, the report said.

Reliance Industries (RIL) said on Wednesday its subsidiary Reliance Jio Digital Services had entered into a strategic transaction with Haptik Infotech, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform that will build India’s largest AI assistant company across chat, voice and regional languages.

The company said the transaction size (including investment for growth and expansion) is estimated to be Rs 700 crore, with Rs 230 crore as the consideration for the initial business transfer.

Reliance Jio has transferred control of its fibre and mobile tower units to two infrastructure investment trusts set up by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL).

The optical fibre cable infrastructure unit, Jio Digital Fibre Private Ltd (JDFPL) has allocated shares worth Rs 500 crore to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) on March 31, 2019, according to a regulatory filing.

A sharp rally in three private sector banks – HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank – that have gained over 10 per cent each from their August 29, 2018 level helped the benchmark index S&P BSE Sensex breeze past the 39,000 mark and hit a new high on Monday. The benchmark index surpassed its previous high of 38,990 recorded on August 29, 2018 in intra-day deals.

The Nifty50, too, breached the 11,700 level for the first time since September 2018 to hit an intra-day high of 11,716.

Reliance Industries Ltd said on Tuesday its unit Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) has acquired consumer goods company ITC Ltd’s menswear brand John Players.

The acquisition would strengthen RRL’s readymade garments and accessories portfolio in the fashion and lifestyle retail space, Reliance told Reuters in an email.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has set up a company — in Reliance Navi Mumbai Infra (RNMIL) — for real estate development.

It said the company has invested Rs 5 lakh as initial capital in the newly incorporated entity, which is yet to commence its business operations. According to sources, RNMIL will develop properties in the special economic zone to be developed by Reliance Industries in Navi Mumbai.

Reliance Industries Ltd., Venezuela’s top customer in India, has capped oil purchases from the Latin American country and halted selling diluent following U.S. pressure to cripple President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

“Our U.S. subsidiary has completely stopped all business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and its global parent has not increased crude purchases," a Reliance spokesman said in an emailed statement.

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