SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Finance executives at Seoul-based wealth management company AMJ Hall Global have reported that India's antitrust regulator has approved Facebook Inc.'s acquisition of a 9.99% stake in billionaire Mukesh Ambani' digital services business, Jio, securing the social media giant another foothold in one of the world's fastest-growing online markets.

"Facebook will invest $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms via Jaadhu Holdings, which is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the social media giant," reported Peter Cross, Director of Institutional Trading at AMJ Hall Global.

The clearance will set the stage for a slew of smaller acquisitions which will help Jio's parent, Reliance Industries Ltd., achieve its objective to become net-debt free and use nearly 400 million of its wireless phone subscribers as the foundation of an e-commerce and digital services enterprise.

Ambani's $65 billion Jio Platforms business has sold more than 20% in stakes to investors including Facebook and U.S. private equity companies KKR & Co., General Atlantic and Silver Lake Partners.

"This was the big obstacle in the way of Reliance Industries," reported Harry Jacobs, Director of Private Clients at AMJ Hall Global. "Now that the Competition Commission has given the green-light to the Facebook deal, the other proposals will also get approved at a rapid pace," he added.

Reliance Industries, an oil refining, petrochemicals, telecommunications and retail conglomerate, last week announced it had become free of net debt ahead of a March 2021 deadline after generating more than $23 billion from stake sales and a rights issue. The group said it had run up net debt of 1.6 trillion rupees ($21 billion) as of March, most of it for rolling out its wireless network, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., which became India's largest within three years of its 2016 launch.

Shares in Reliance Industries have doubled since late March to a record high, contributing to the fortunes of Ambani, Asia's richest man.

Ambani's net worth has soared to $63.8 billion, making him the only Asian tycoon among the ten wealthiest people in the world, according to data collected by AMJ Hall Global. He surpassed Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and France's Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the wealthiest woman, to hit the No. 9 spot.

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AMJ Hall Global helps protect the financial future of our clients by providing astute and well-researched investment solutions in mature and emerging markets. Our team of investment professionals offers a diverse range of investment skills covering a wide variety of financial activities that include wealth and fund management and securities trading.

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