Tatas dilute 10% stake in Tata Sky to Temasek
Tata Group has divested 10 per cent stake in its DTH venture Tata Sky to Singapore government's investment arm Tamasek for a consideration of USD 56 million.
By PTI |
MUMBAI: Tata Group has divested 10 per cent stake in its DTH venture Tata Sky to Singapore government's investment arm Tamasek for a consideration of USD 56 million.
A source close to the development told PTI that the deal was inked almost a month back and Temasek was likely to make a formal announcement in this regard soon.
With this, Tatas' stake in the company has come down to 70 per cent from 80 per cent initially.
Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a 80:20 joint venture between the Tata Group and television network Star. The DTH service was launched last year.
"Temasek has the option to increase its stake further to the permissible limit of 26 per cent," the source said.
The joint venture partners had earlier stated that the project cost for the venture would be around Rs 3,000 crore.
"Tatas have already committed huge investment and they have to make much more to retain the leadership. This calls for further investment," the source pointed out.
Tata Sky has a total consumer base of over half a million and intends to take the number to one million by August this year.
Other than conditional access system notified areas, the DTH product of Tata Sky is available in 4,200 towns across the country and the company plans to cover at least another 1,500 towns by the year-end, a company official said.
A source close to the development told PTI that the deal was inked almost a month back and Temasek was likely to make a formal announcement in this regard soon.
With this, Tatas' stake in the company has come down to 70 per cent from 80 per cent initially.
Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a 80:20 joint venture between the Tata Group and television network Star. The DTH service was launched last year.
"Temasek has the option to increase its stake further to the permissible limit of 26 per cent," the source said.
The joint venture partners had earlier stated that the project cost for the venture would be around Rs 3,000 crore.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Tatas have already committed huge investment and they have to make much more to retain the leadership. This calls for further investment," the source pointed out.
Tata Sky has a total consumer base of over half a million and intends to take the number to one million by August this year.
Other than conditional access system notified areas, the DTH product of Tata Sky is available in 4,200 towns across the country and the company plans to cover at least another 1,500 towns by the year-end, a company official said.
Tata Sky is the market leader player now and it wants to maintain its position even if the competition hots up with the proposed entry of the cash-rich companies like, Reliance, Bharti and Sun TV in the DTH segment, he said.
At the current rate of the growth, India would have anything between 15 to 20 million DTH subscribers in the next five to six years.
Temasek is an established private equity (PE) investor in the country. It was reported to have invested over USD 330 million in the last year itself, thus becoming the third largest PE investor in India, the world's second fastest- growing major economy which clocked a robust growth rate of 9.4 per cent in 2006-07, the highest in last 18 years.
It has stakes in Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Teleservices and Welspun India among others.
Start a SIP with as low as ₹500 with ET Money App!
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
