The Walt Disney Co., Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), and Viacom 18 Media Private Ltd. said Thursday that the merger of the media and JioCinema businesses of Viacom18 into Star India has become effective, creating a big joint venture in India. In addition, RIL has invested around $1.4 billion into the joint venture (JV) for its growth.“The JV has allotted shares to Viacom18 and RIL as consideration for the assets and cash, respectively,” the companies said. “The transaction values the JV at $8.5 billion on a post-money basis, excluding synergies. At the closing of the transactions noted above, the JV is controlled by RIL and owned 16.34 percent by RIL, 46.82 percent by Viacom18 and 36.84 percent by Disney.”Nita M. Ambani will be the chair of the JV, with Uday Shankar serving as vice chair.As part of the deal, Paramount has completed the sale of its entire 13.01 percent equity stake in Viacom 18 Media to Reliance “for an aggregate purchase price of $508 million (which we expect to produce estimated net proceeds of $456 million),” the company said in a regulatory fling.“Optimizing our asset mix is an important pillar of our strategic plan,” Paramount emphasized in a statement. “The sale of our Viacom 18 stake to Reliance provides an attractive financial return, is helpful to our balance sheet and improves leverage. We also look forward to the continuation of our licensing agreement with Viacom 18 as we monetize Paramount’s world-class content globally,” it added.“The JV is home to the most iconic and engaging media brands in India across TV and digital platforms,” the firms said. “The combination of ‘Star’ and ‘Colors’ on the television side and ‘JioCinema’ and ‘Hotstar’ on the digital front will provide extensive choice of content across entertainment and sports to viewers in India and globally. The formation of the JV will herald a new era in India’s entertainment industry for consumers. This unique joint venture of Reliance and Disney brings together the companies’ content creation and curation prowess, world-class digital streaming capabilities along with a digital-first approach that will help the JV deliver unparalleled content choices at affordable prices to Indian viewers and the Indian diaspora globally.”The JV will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with pro forma combined revenue of approximately $3.1 billion for the fiscal year ended in March 2024. It operates more than 100 TV channels and produces 30,000-plus hours of TV entertainment content annually.The Competition Commission of India (“CCI”) approved the transaction in August, subject to the compliance with certain voluntary modifications offered by the parties. The deal has also been approved by anti-trust authorities in the EU, China, Turkey, South Korea and Ukraine.
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