As per reports, a Reliance Industries subsidiary ‘has agreed to subscribe to a 5% equity stake’ in Eros International at a price of $15 per share.
RIL will pay $15 per Eros International share, which represents an 18% premium to Friday’s closing price. The two parties will invest up to INR 1,000 crore each to produce and acquire Indian films and digital originals across all languages, RIL said.
Eros CEO Jyoti Deshpande will be stepping down to head RIL’s media and entertainment business. Deshpande will join RIL this April but will continue to remain as a non-executive director on the board of Eros.
RIL and Eros International Media Ltd will partner to jointly produce and consolidate content from across India.
Deshpande would be responsible for RIL’s initiatives in media and entertainment to organically build and grow businesses around the content ecosystem such as broadcasting, films, sports, music, digital, gaming, animation etc., as well as integrate RIL’s existing media investments such as Viacom and Balaji Telefilms.
So far, RIL has Hotstar and Roy Kapur Films on board. Last year, RIL also bought 24.9% stake in Alt Balaji, a wholly owned subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms, for INR 413 crore.
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