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Tag: Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group

  • Zapak gets Shard Sharma as the National Sales Head

    Zapak gets Shard Sharma as the National Sales Head

    Mumbai: Zapak Digital Entertainment, the India gaming business by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has announced the appointment of Shard Sharma as the national sales head of all businesses under Zapak.

    In his new role, Sharma will be managing teams in Mumbai and Delhi. He will be reporting to Zapak Digital Entertainment business head – India Chaitanya Prabhu.

    Prabhu said “We are happy to welcome Shard Sharma as the Nation Sales Head for Zapak. Shard brings along with him vast experience of monetizing various internet properties and we are looking forward to working closely with Shard in tapping the monetisation opportunity in exponentially growing free to play gaming category in India across mobile and PC.”

    Sharma joins Zapak from Sify as regional manager- North, East and West.

    With over 14 years of work experience in sales and business development, he has been associated with names like Rediff.com, Moneycontrol.com, Zee Network and Webdunia.com in the past.

  • Scarecrow wins Reliance Mutual Fund’s creative biz

    MUMBAI: Scarecrow Communications has won the creative mandate of Reliance Mutual Fund (RMF) following a multi-agency pitch.

    Scarecrow with offices in Mumbai and Delhi handles brands like Nestle, Reliance Digital, DNA, DLF, Future Capital, Eristoff (Bacardi), B‘lue and Rupa Innerwear.

    A subsidiary of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, RMF offers investors a portfolio of products to meet varying investor requirements and has presence in 179 cities across the country.

  • TV Today scrip soars on Reliance Capital offer

    MUMBAI: With TV Today Network shares shooting up, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital may find it difficult to attract investors for an open offer as it bids to increase stake in the news broadcasting company.

    The scrip jumped 5 per cent today to close at Rs 147.15 on the BSE, higher than the offer price for 20 per cent stake at Rs 130.50 per share. Reliance Capital, in fact, had set the price seven per cent below TV Today’s Tuesday market closing at Rs 140.2.

    Though the offer would open later from 6-to-25 June, analysts expect the price of TV Today to stay firm. Investors may want to sell now at a higher price or hold on with the hope that the scrip would climb as the offer date opens.

    “The price at Rs 130.50 is seen as too low to attract investors. It is not an aggressive bid and needs to be revised for having any serious selling interest from existing shareholders,” says an analyst at a broking firm.

    Reliance already has 11.93 per cent in TV Today after a recent purchase in the open market. The interest to hike up stake, analysts say, is partly due to the suppressed scrip price of TV Today which runs a clutch of news channels including the Hindi market leader Aaj Tak.

    Reliance would have to pay Rs 1.5 billion for the 20 per cent offer. For a similar stake in rival news broadcasters like NDTV and Global Broadcast News (CNN-IBN), the financial services firm controlled by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group would have had to cough out more.

    Analysts dismiss the possibility of a takeover with the promoters of TV Today controlling 55.69 per cent stake in the company. “Reliance Capital is, perhaps, sending signals that they are interested in the TV company in some form. It could be as financial investors. But if they sense an opportunity, they may move in,” analysts say.

    In an official statement, Reliance Capital has clarified its position. “We have strong confidence in the future prospects and growth potential of TV Today, and wish to increase our stake beyond the threshold of 15 per cent specified under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) takeover regulations. For meeting the procedural requirements, we are making an open offer to facilitate the increase in shareholding beyond 15 per cent. This will not result in any change in the management and / or control of TV Today.”

    Reliance Capital has equity in several media and entertainment companies including TV18, NDTV and GBN. It acquired a majority stake in Adlabs Films and Synergy Communications and has expressed interest to grow in this sector.

  • Adlabs Films finds Synergy in equity deal

    Adlabs Films finds Synergy in equity deal

    MUMBAI: The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)-backed Adlabs Films is set to formally make a foray into the television business.

    According to capital market sources, Adlabs Films is poised to pick up a sizeable equity stake in Siddharth and Anita Basu’s production house Synergy Communications Pvt Ltd.

    Sources close to the development, however, said that it is still not clear whether the stake being picked up is 51 per cent or higher.

    While Adlabs expressed ignorance of the deal when contacted by Indiantelevision.com, Synergy Communications refused to entertain any query on the issue.

    However, market sources said that a valuation of Synergy Communications has been pegged between Rs 470 million to Rs 500 million.

    The scrip of Adlabs Films Ltd closed on 6 September at Rs 332.10 after opening at Rs 332 on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The scrip reached an intra-day high of Rs 337.50, probably riding on the information of its radio division slated to roll-out FM operations in about four to six weeks time.

    It must be reiterated here that Adlabs Films CMD Manmohan Shetty had earlier confirmed to Indiantelevision.com that the company was looking at taking a controlling equity stake in a production house.

    Though Shetty had refused to divulge any names at that time, he had admitted, “All that I can say is that it (the targeted production house) is not a listed company and produces three to four shows with a good balance sheet.”

    Adlabs has been funding a few TV production companies and has chalked out eight projects with various producers who will be making programmes for TV channels.

    Synergy Communications, producers of Kaun Banega Crorepati or KBC (an Indian version of the popular western game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), is presently working on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa (a local adaption of Dancing With The Stars) for Sony.

    KBC, hosted by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, first started airing in 2000 on Star Plus and created such a national hysteria that it changed the fortunes of Star India and put it in a leadership position that’s still being maintained.

    Synergy was started by ace quizmaster Basu and his wife after the gentleman became a household name in India by hosting the very popular Quiz Time on Doordarshan in the pre-cable television days.