Reminiscent India to sell 20% stake

Mumbai: With rat race becoming severe in the Indian television broadcasting scene, the number of companies wanting to sell their stakes is on the rise.

It began with Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network, which had announced last year that it proposed to sell about 30 per cent stake. The company has not indicated any progress made till date.

Media major Zee was the next, when its promoter and media baron Subhash Chandra announced early this year that he proposed to reduce stake in the company. While the process was expected to be completed in about 15 days time, no concrete progress has been made till date.

The latest entrant into the list of stake sellers is Reminiscent India Television, which plans to offload about 20 per cent stake in the company through private placement. The company runs Lashkara and Gurjari channels on the satellite network. The company has reportedly appointed Ernst and Young to put a value at its media assets, which, according to company sources, are estimated at about Rs 50 crore.

The company has jointly estimated the value of Lashkara, Gurjari, Miss Lashkara and Lashkara Music Awards at about Rs 25 crore, its software at about Rs 10 crore and property assets at about Rs 15 crore.

In addition to selling stake, the company is also planning to raise Rs 10 crore through a private placement of preference shares, carrying an interest rate of 12 per cent and to be bought back after three years. The company plans to invest Rs 2 crore in setting up production facilities, Rs 3 crore for making additional software, Rs 3.5 crore for uplinking expansion and Rs 1.5 crore on interior location.

It is also constructing an additional space measuring about 25,000 square metres and plans to distribute 30 per cent of its content to the Urdu channel Anjuman.