Reliance Industries Ltd was on Tuesday non-committal on reports of a potential merger between RIL controlled Viacom18 with Disney’s India unit.
“We would like to clarify that we are unable to comment on media speculation and it would be inappropriate on our part to do so. The firm evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis. Further, there is no information which has not been announced to the stock exchanges and which should have been announced by the Company in terms of the SEBI Regulations, 2015,” the group stated in an exchange filing.
Bloomberg had reported that Walt Disney Co.’s India unit is being valued at less than half of what it hoped for in a proposed merger with RIL’s media business. After weeks of negotiations following a non-binding pact with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance to merge their entertainment businesses, Disney’s India assets, the report stated, was valued at around $4.5 billion, way less than the $10 billion the US entertainment giant has previously pursued.
The combined entity will be valued at as much as $11 billion, with Disney taking about a 40% stake, the report had said.
Reliance will have a 51% stake, with the rest held by James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems LLC. Per Bloomberg, the two companies aim to sign a binding deal in February, people quoted in the report said. The merger could deepen Ambani’s push into the media and sports industries and further consolidate India’s $28 billion media and entertainment market. The collapse of a proposed $10 billion merger between Sony Group Corp.’s India unit and Zee Entertainment has also taken a potential major competitor out of the reckoning.
