Cable television distributor Den Networks Ltd is selling the entire equity stake held by it and joint venture partner Snapdeal in TV merchandise channel Macro Commerce Pvt. Ltd to focus on its core business.
Den said in a stock-exchange filing that it will receive Rs 10 lakh for the sale of Macro Commerce to Noida-based Pimex Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. This will mean a huge haircut for Den, which paid Rs 6 crore last year to increase its stake in Macro to 82.87% from 50%. It bumped up its holding by subscribing to new shares and purchasing stock from Snapdeal's parent Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Following the sale, Pimex will hold the entire 100% shareholding of Macro, along with all existing liabilities and dues. Pimex is promoted by Vijender Singh, who has 15 years' experience in driving technology initiatives. Singh also laid down the product R&D roadmap for IT and communication devices hardware company Pantel Technologies.
Macro Commerce was set up in 2014 to operate a shopping TV channel for branded and unbranded merchandise. It reported a turnover of Rs 28 crore for 2015-16 compared with Rs 3.17 crore the year before, according to Den’s filing.
The channel, DEN Snapdeal TV-Shop, was launched in 2015 to create a multi-nodal electronic shopping avenue for customers. It competed with Network 18 Group’s HomeShop18 as well as StarCJ and Naaptol shopping TV channels.