Paramount Global will exit Viacom18 by selling its remaining 13.01% stake to Reliance Industries for ₹4,286 crore, a deal that will value the Indian media company at about ₹33,000 crore.
In separate regulatory filings, the US media and entertainment major and the Mukesh Ambani-led Indian conglomerate have said the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain customary conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.
The transaction is also subject to the completion of the proposed joint venture (JV) involving RIL, Viacom18, and The Walt Disney Company’s Star India.
RIL’s stake in Viacom18 will increase to 70.49% after the completion of the deal. It currently holds compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS), representing a 57.48% equity stake in Viacom18.
Former Star India chairman and CEO Uday Shankar’s Bodhi Tree Systems holds around 16% stake in the company while the remaining stake of about 13.5% is held by TV18.
Paramount, which owns media brands like MTV, Vh1, and Nickelodeon, will continue to license its content 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 in the process of merging with Network18.
Paramount Global (formerly Viacom), which had formed Viacom18 as an equal joint venture (JV) with TV18 in 2007, has been ceding control of the company to RIL after the latter’s acquisition of Network18 from Raghav Bahl.
In 2018, RIL took control of Viacom18 by acquiring an additional 1% stake from Paramount for a cash consideration of $20 million to take its stake to 51%.
Paramount’s stake in Viacom18 declined to 13.01% from 49% last year following a ₹15,145-crore fund infusion by RIL and Bodhi Tree Systems.
The fund infusion gave RIL-owned entities a 60.37% shareholding in Viacom 18, with Bodhi Tree Systems receiving 13.08%. Subsequently, Bodhi Tree hiked its stake in Viacom18 by purchasing an additional 2.89% stake from RIL for ₹953.23 crore.
Paramount Global had realised a non-cash gain of $168 million for the quarter ended June from the dilution of its stake in Viacom18, the company’s regulatory filings show.
The stake acquisition by RIL comes close on the heels of the joint venture (JV) deal between RIL and Disney to merge Viacom18 into Star India, a company owned by the American media conglomerate.
