Reliance Industries has offered to sell 3.1 per cent stake in its public listed holding firm for media and digital commerce platforms Network18 Media & Investments Ltd to meet securities market regulator SEBI's listing norms.
Shinano Retail Pvt Ltd, a part of Reliance Industries, has offered to sell up to 32,419,842 equity shares representing 3.1 per cent of Network 18 on July 8, 2015 exclusively through the separate window on the two national bourses, as per a stock market disclosure.
The pricing for the offer-for-sale, which would close on the same day, has not been frozen but at the current market price Reliance Industries may encash around Rs 202 crore ($16 million).
The move is linked to meeting the public listing norms which require a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent or conversely maximum promoter holding of 75 per cent.
Reliance Industries that gained control of Network18 last year by converting the loans to previous promoter Raghav Bahl, later hiked its stake further through the open offer.
As of March 31, 2015, it held 78.1 per cent stake in Network18 and needed to divest 3.1 per cent stake to comply with the listing norms.
Network18 is the holding company for TV18 Broadcast Ltd (a public listed firm that runs a slew of TV channels) as well as digital media and commerce platforms such as BookMyShow and HomeShop18 among several other businesses.