Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), Viacom 18 Media Private Ltd., and The Walt Disney Company (Disney) have signed binding agreements to form a joint venture (JV) which will combine the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India in India. Towards this Viacom18 will be merged into Star India Private Ltd. through a court-approved scheme of arrangement. Besides this RIL will invest at closing Rs11,500 crore into the JV for its growth strategy.
Nita Mukesh Ambani will be the chairperson of the JV and Uday Shankar, the former President of Walt Disney Asia Pacific, will be Vice Chairperson providing strategic guidance to the JV.
“The transaction values the JV at Rs70,352 crore on a post-money basis, excluding synergies. After completion of the above steps, the JV will be controlled by RIL and owned 16.34% by RIL, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney,” the entities said in a joint statement.
Subject to regulatory and third-party approvals, Disney may also contribute certain additional media assets to the JV.
The JV will be one of the leading TV and digital streaming platforms for entertainment and sports content in India, bringing together media assets across entertainment (Colors, StarPlus, StarGOLD) and sports (Star Sports and Sports18) including access to highly anticipated events across television and digital platforms through JioCinema and Hotstar, the companies said.
