INS sells 20 stake for Rs 100 crore

Independent News Service INS Pvt Ltd, the holding company of India TV, announced a Rs 100 crore 8220;strategic investment8221; in the company by Bangalore based Shyam Equities Pvt Ltd. The deal, under which Shyam Equities has bought 20 per cent of the company, takes the enterprise valuation of INS to Rs 500 crore from Rs 270 crore, a rise of 85 per cent in nine months. As Shyam Equities is a 100 per cent Indian company, the holding in INS by the foreign individual, foreign company, NRI, OCB, FII and PIO has remained unchanged.

The company8217;s co-founder and chairman Rajat Sharma said there was excitement over 8220;The strategic growth blue print that will be executed in 2008.8221; The blue print, he said, includes large investments in key strategic areas beyond India TV, of which he is the editor-in-chief. This includes a bouquet of channels, a distribution blitz in key international markets, and a significant entry into non-news and non-television media. In March last year Fuse Media, an entity of ComVentures, a leading Silicon Valley based venture capital and private equity group with over 1.5 billion of assets under management, had placed an equivalent of Rs 50.9 crore of FDI in INS for a 19.17 per cent stake.