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MUMBAI:
TV Today Network Ltd (TVNL) has decided to merge its group
subsidiary Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd (RTBL) with itself
which will lead to an increase in the promoter's shareholding.
This
puts the current value of the radio company at around Rs 938
million. The shares of TVNL ended Friday at Rs 170.55 on the
BSE.
TVNL
board has approved the share swap ratio wherein shareholders
of RTBL will get five shares of TV Today for every nine shares.
This will result in fresh issue of 5.5 million shares of Rs
5 each to the shareholders of RTBL.
Indiantelevision.com
was the first to report of the merger plan.
"It
is a good opportunity for TV Today to expand into other genres.
And for the radio business, once it is fully operational,
the potential is huge. Besides, the radio business goes public
without any IPO (initial public offering) cost," a senior
executive in the company said.
The
merger is, however, subject to the approval of the High Court
and other regulatory clearances as may be required.
The
promoters of TV Today will increase their stake by around
3.5 per cent after merger," the executive added. Their
current holding is around 55.69 per cent in TV Today.
TV
Today, a listed company which runs a slew of news television
channels including Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, was holding
a 10 per cent stake in Radio Today. The balance was held by
the Living Media Group, the promoters of TV Today.
Anil
Ambani's Reliance Capital had made an open offer for increasing
its stake in TV Today by 20 per cent but it wasn't aggressively
priced.
Radio
Today has already launched in Delhi and Kolkata under the
Meow brand and is positioned as a women's station with only
talk format shows. The Living Media group company has won
licenses paying a fee of Rs 280 million to operate in seven
stations in the second phase of FM expansion after selling
Red FM to a clutch of investors comprising infotech company
Value Labs, Malaysia-based Astro and NDTV. Red FM was operating
in the circles of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
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