Ambani's RIL takes control of Network18

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is acquiring a majority stake in Raghav Bahl’s Network18 Media and Investments and its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast through Independent Media Trust (IMT), of which RIL is a sole beneficiary.

Network18 Media and TV18 control a suite of broadcasting channels like CNBC-TV18, Viacom18 and CNN-IBN, besides a bevy of e-commerce businesses and digital internet sites.

The RIL board on Thursday approved funding of up to Rs 4,000 crore to IMT, which will use the funds to acquire a 78 per cent stake in Network18, a nine per cent stake in TV18 and shares tendered in an open offer to be made for public shareholders’ equity stake in Network18, TV18 and Infomedia Press Ltd (the publishing arm of Network18).

Some key management executives of Network18 — Group Chief Executive Officer B Sai Kumar, Chief Operating Officer Ajay Chacko and Chief Financial Officer R D S Bawa — had quit over the past two days. The acquisition announced on Thursday explains these exits in quick succession, but it remains to be seen whether Bahl, the founder and editor of Network18, would remain on board or leave.

There also was a buzz that many of the group’s top executives, including CNBC-TV18 Managing Editor Shereen Bhan, had quit after announcement of the deal. Bhan, however, denied: “I am very much here. The team was informed just today and it is to be seen how things go. But as of now, there have been no exits,” she said.

According to sources, JM Financial has been roped in as banker for the open offer. The Network18 shares rose 7.12 per cent on BSE on Thursday to close at Rs 45.15 apiece. At present, the promoters have a 72.98 per cent stake in Network18, while the rest is held by the public (4.24 per cent by foreign institutional investors).

According to an RIL statement, this acquisition would prove a boost for Reliance Jio, the firm’s 4G business, by providing an amalgamation at the intersect of telecom, web and digital e-commerce.

Through Reliance Jio, RIL is expected to launch its pan-Indian high-speed 4G services in the fourth quarter of this financial year. For this, it has been looking at creating content to increase data usage by consumers. It has also taken stake in an education portal and is working on various other services to woo customers.

Abneesh Roy, associate director (institutional equities research), Edelweiss Securities, said: “We were expecting this, given the three senior-level exits in the group within a few days and RIL’s option to acquire stake. While this could potentially increase competitive intensity in the TV broadcasting space, one needs to see how much focus and bandwidth of RIL will be available to Network18/TV18, which will be a good fit to RIL’s consumer-facing businesses like 4G, retail, Indian Premiere League team, etc. RIL is likely to bring in best talent available for running the media business.”

The acquisition was in the works for long. Its seeds are said to have been two years ago, when RIL, through IMT, gave a Rs 1,700-crore loan to Raghav Bahl’s investment companies to ensure he retained stakes in Network18 and TV18. The companies had decided to go for an open offer to raise Rs 4,000 crore for retiring debt and buying stakes in regional channels of the Hyderabad-based Eenadu Network. To maintain promoter stake in the company, Bahl needed Rs 1,700 crore, which he got from IMT in the form of optionally-convertible debentures.

The acquisition, according to sources, was triggered after the debt was converted into equity. As part of the deal, a memorandum of understanding was signed between RIL’s broadband subsidiary, Infotel, and the Network18 Group for ‘preferential’ access to all web and media properties of Bahl’s media network.

Before Bahl bought a stake in Eenadu, Mukesh Ambani had over time invested nearly Rs 2,600 crore to acquire 100 per cent stakes in regional news channels like ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Bihar and ETV Urdu, besides regional entertainment channels like ETV Marathi, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, ETV Oriya and ETV Gujarati. He had also aquired a 49 per cent stake each in Telugu channels ETV Telugu and ETV Telugu News.

Bahl, in turn, bought 100 per cent stakes in ETV’s regional news channels, 50 per cent in ETV’s regional entertainment channels and 24.5 per cent in the two Telugu channels, through Network18 for Rs 2,000 crore.