viacom 18 share: Paramount to sell its remaining stake in Viacom18 to RIL

Paramount World will exit Viacom18 by promoting its remaining 13.01% stake to Reliance Industries for ₹4,286 crore, a deal that can worth the Indian media firm at about ₹33,000 crore.

In separate regulatory filings, the US media and leisure main and the Mukesh Ambani-led Indian conglomerate have mentioned the transaction is topic to the satisfaction of sure customary circumstances, together with receipt of relevant regulatory approvals.

The transaction can also be topic to the completion of the proposed three way partnership (JV) involving RIL, Viacom18, and The Walt Disney Firm’s Star India.

RIL’s stake in Viacom18 will improve to 70.49% after the completion of the deal. It at present holds compulsorily convertible desire shares (CCPS), representing a 57.48% fairness stake in Viacom18.

Former Star India chairman and CEO Uday Shankar’s Bodhi Tree Methods holds round 16% stake within the firm whereas the remaining stake of about 13.5% is held by TV18.

Paramount, which owns media manufacturers like MTV, Vh1, and Nickelodeon, will proceed to license its content material to Viacom18. It has launched its streaming platform Paramount+ as a bundled service on Viacom18’s streaming platform JioCinema.Viacom18 is a subsidiary of TV18 Broadcast, which is within the means of merging with Network18.Paramount World (previously Viacom), which had fashioned Viacom18 as an equal three way partnership (JV) with TV18 in 2007, has been ceding management of the corporate to RIL after the latter’s acquisition of Network18 from Raghav Bahl.

In 2018, RIL took management of Viacom18 by buying a further 1% stake from Paramount for a money consideration of $20 million to take its stake to 51%.

Paramount’s stake in Viacom18 declined to 13.01% from 49% final yr following a ₹15,145-crore fund infusion by RIL and Bodhi Tree Methods.

The fund infusion gave RIL-owned entities a 60.37% shareholding in Viacom 18, with Bodhi Tree Methods receiving 13.08%. Subsequently, Bodhi Tree hiked its stake in Viacom18 by buying a further 2.89% stake from RIL for ₹953.23 crore.

Paramount World had realised a non-cash acquire of $168 million for the quarter ended June from the dilution of its stake in Viacom18, the corporate’s regulatory filings present.

The stake acquisition by RIL comes shut on the heels of the three way partnership (JV) deal between RIL and Disney to merge Viacom18 into Star India, an organization owned by the American media conglomerate.