IBN18 Broadcast Ltd has acquired Television Eighteen’s 15.47% stake in Viacom18 Media. Post the transaction, IBN18’s stake in Viacom18 has increased to 50% making IBN18 a 50% partner in all Viacom18 channels like Colors, MTV, Nick and Vh1.
IBN18 has paid Rs 151.14 crore for the stake acquisition, which includes an amount of Rs 29.64 crore as option premium. IBN18 had earlier paid Rs 151.95 crore, which included an option premium of Rs 30.45 crore.
IBN18 initially held only a 6.6% stake in Viacom18. By June 29th, the company had acquired a total of 33.71% stake in Viacom18. It had paid Rs 263 crore for acquiring the additional stake.
IBN18 had raised Rs 114 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) and Rs 241 crore in equity from the promoters of the company to fund the acquisition.
IBN18 owns channels like CNN-IBN, IBN7 and a joint venture Marathi news channel IBN Lokmat. The company had posted a loss of Rs 92 crore for the fiscal ended 31 March 2009. The company’s revenues increased by 38.96% to Rs 1.83 billion for FY'09, as against Rs 1.32 billion a year ago.
