The owner of Colors general entertainment channel, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd founded by Essel Group’s Subhash Chandra are in the early stages of merger talks.
This potential merger could result in a large media firm with interests covering broadcast, OTT, live entertainment and movie production, shared two people aware of the development.
Viacom18 is a joint venture between TV18 Broadcast Ltd (51%) and US-based ViacomCBS Inc. (49%). Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd is majority-owned by foreign institutional investors, including Investco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund and Ofi Global Fund China LLC.
“The merger of Viacom18 and Zee is proposed to be done through a share swap deal. The talks started a few weeks ago, and the deal is unlikely to involve any cash transaction,” a person said requesting anonymity.
According to a Zee group spokesperson, the company does not comment on speculation while the representatives of Viacom18 and RIL declined to comment.
The person said, “If a merger takes place, the combined entity will own and manage the largest number of TV channels and have the largest market capitalization in India from the industry.”
If this deal sees the light of the day, the promoters of Viacom18 could become among the largest shareholders of the combined entity because more than 65% of ZEE is owned by foreign institutional investors.
