Heard on the Street

Religare seen eyeing 26% stake in NDTV

The market is agog with news that financial services group Religare is in talks to purchase a 26% stake in television major NDTV. Grapevine has it that both company representatives met a few days ago to discuss a deal. Speculation is that the deal may be finalised between Rs 200-220 per share.

A spokesperson of New Delhi-based Religare officially denied this news, while NDTV officials did not respond to email queries sent by ET. The NDTV stock, which closed 3.8% lower at Rs 171.25 on Wednesday, has risen close to 56% in a month. Fund managers and analysts do not rule out the possibility of such a deal, as NDTV is believed to be badly in need of funds in a highly-competitive industry.

A section of the market feels that the talk could have been triggered by a bunch of market operators to push up the stock further and in that process, exit their existing positions.

Contributed by Nishanth Vasudevan