James Murdoch and former Star and Disney India head Uday Shankar backed Bodhi Tree Systems has reportedly increased its stakeholding in Viacom18 by an additional 2.89%.
The stake purchase, worth Rs 953.23 crore as per a report by The Economic Times, has raised Bodhi Tree Systems’ current holding in Viacom18 to 15.97%.
The transaction, which concluded recently as per the ET report, puts Viacom18’s current valuation at Rs 32,983 crore. With this additional stake, Bodhi Tree’s holding in Viacom18 has increased to 15.97%.
It was in April that it acquired a 13.08% stake in Viacom18 for Rs 4,306 crore, following which Shankar was appointed to the board of of the Reliance controlled media company.
The stake acquisition was financed through the $150 million that Bodhi Tree raised from Comcast Corp-owned NBC Universal and global alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital, the report added.
As per media reports, Shankar is in the process of putting together a new leadership team.
