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On Wednesday, the Competitors Fee of India cleared NBC Common’s acquisition of a stake in BTS Funding 1 Pte Ltd and Bodhi Tree Methods VCC, that are owned by Asia Initiatives Pte Ltd. Asia Initiatives is a three way partnership between James Murdoch’s Lupa Methods and former Star India chief govt Uday Shankar. Bodhi Tree is a minority shareholder in Reliance Industries-controlled Viacom18, which owns a bouquet of leisure channels.
In keeping with trade consultants, Comcast’s funding in Bodhi Tree is a preliminary step in direction of the conglomerate’s bigger ambitions within the Indian market.
“Funding in Bodhi Tree will open the doorways for Comcast in a fast-growing leisure market like India. Comcast is getting into India by means of Bodhi Tree since India is an unfamiliar territory for them,” mentioned an individual near the event.
“Proper now, they’re simply testing the waters,” a veteran media skilled mentioned, including that the corporate will improve its investments as soon as it sees the worth creation that occurs within the Viacom18 enterprise.
A portion of the funds from NBC Common’s funding in BTS Funding and Bodhi Tree Methods will likely be used for added funding in Viacom18.
NBC Common, which is owned by Comcast, at the moment has a subsidiary in India named NBC Common Media Distribution Providers Pvt Ltd.
In 2021, the corporate launched DreamWorks and E! channels on the Jio TV app. It additionally operates an ad-free OTT platform referred to as Hayu in India.
A lot earlier than it was acquired by Comcast, NBC Common had acquired a 26% fairness stake in NDTV for $150 million in 2008. Later, NDTV purchased again the stake. NDTV Networks housed the leisure and life-style channels of NDTV.
Comcast has been seeking to achieve a toehold within the Indian market.
Comcast had reportedly evaluated each Zee Leisure Enterprises and Star India as potential targets at one level.
Comcast, in partnership with non-public fairness heavyweight Blackstone Group and Lupa Methods CEO James Murdoch, had tried to amass a stake in Zee when the media conglomerate was in search of a strategic investor to promote a portion of its stake to repay money owed owed by its promoters. Nonetheless, the bid was unsuccessful.
The corporate was vying for Star India when twenty first Century Fox put a big chunk of its leisure property on sale. Finally, Disney walked away with the twenty first Century Fox property, together with Star India.
Comcast needed to stay content material with the acquisition of British media and telecommunications firm Sky.
Trade sources mentioned Comcast had checked out property within the TV distribution house too earlier than it evaluated Zee and Star.
“Initially, it had checked out property within the cable TV enterprise, however it did not proceed additional as a result of an absence of last-mile possession. In addition they evaluated DTH property, however that additionally did not yield any outcomes,” a TV broadcast govt conscious of the discussions mentioned.
As per an individual acquainted with the matter, Viacom18 has achieved a valuation of ₹33,000 crore following the injection of funds by Bodhi Tree Methods.
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