In a filing to the stock exchanges, Reliance Industries has informed that it had agreed to acquire 13.01% equity stake (on a fully diluted basis) of Viacom 18 Media from two subsidiaries of Paramount Global for an aggregate consideration of Rs 4,286 crore.
Viacom18 is a material subsidiary of TV18 Broadcast and at present RIL holds Convertible Preference Shares of Viacom18, amounting to 57.48%equity stake (on a fully diluted basis).
It is also mentioned in the filing that after the completion of the transaction RIL’s stake will increase to 70.49% (on a fully diluted basis).
The transaction is aimed at facilitating RIL’s merger of its media businesses with that of Walt Disney’s in India.
