Network18 Media & Investments Ltd on Wednesday announced the merger of its television and digital news businesses into one company. This means TV18 Broadcast Ltd and e-Eighteen.com Ltd or E18, which owns and operates Moneycontrol website and app, will merge with Network18, creating India’s largest integrated news media entity which will be platform-agnostic with widest footprint across languages, straddling both TV and Digital.
According to Network18, the board of directors of the respective companies approved the ‘scheme of arrangement’ during meetings. The merger aims to simplify the company’s holding structure and create India’s leading integrated news media conglomerate, the company said.
Network18 said this move will enable it to consolidate and further grow its business from a position of strength. It will also give a unique opportunity to all shareholders to take part in the media business of the group through one listed entity, the company added.
“The proposed scheme will consolidate TV and digital news businesses of the Network18 group in one company and will help create India’s largest platform-agnostic news media powerhouse with the widest footprint across languages, straddling both TV and digital. It will enable Network18 to consolidate and further grow its business from a position of strength. This will present a unique opportunity to all shareholders to participate in the media business of the group through one listed entity,” Network18 said in a press release.
The press release stated that the merged entity will comprise the TV portfolio of TV18 (20 news channels in 18 languages and CNBCTV18.com), digital assets of Network18 (News18.com platform across 13 languages and Firstpost) as also Moneycontrol website and app. Viacom18 with its portfolio of JioCinema and 40 TV channels will be a direct subsidiary of Network18, which will continue to hold its investment in BookMyShow.
Network18 further said the integrated presence across TV and digital media will enable the merged entity to better serve consumers and advertisers. “…Further, as Network18 group has been working towards convergence, an integrated entity for news gathering and dissemination is expected to result in cost and content synergies,” the company added.
The merged entity will be a mid-cap company with Rs 15,000 crore market cap based on prevailing prices. The converged operations under a single entity will result in synergies on content, revenue, and costs, eliminating inter-company transactions and borrowings. It will also create headroom for any possible capital raising in future for growth and deleveraging as the promoter holding will be around 57% as against 75% currently.
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