Apollo makes partial exit from India’s Dish TV

Apollo India Private Equity II (Mauritius) offloaded 32 million shares at INR82.04 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. Dish TV is currently trading around INR85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 74% on a one-year basis, while the BSE Sensex index has gained a more modest 36%.

The private equity firm invested $100 million in Dish TV in 2009 through a global depository receipt (GDR) issue, taking an 11% stake. Its 117,035 GDRs represented 117.035 million equity shares. As of March 2014, 85,035 GDRs remained unconverted. This translates into a 7.98% equity stake, which would be worth INR7.23 billion at current market prices.

A division of media and entertainment conglomerate Essel Group, Dish TV launched its DTH services in 2005 and now claims to be the largest provider in Asia and the third biggest globally. The company has 12.5 million subscribers, accounting for more than a quarter of India's DTH market, ahead of Tata Sky and Airtel Digital.

Dish TV offers 383 linear and 37 HD channels, and subscriptions make up over 90% of its revenues. The company's operating revenues reached INR25 billion in the 2014 financial year, up from INR21.7 billion in 2013, while EBITDA rose from INR5.79 billion to INR6.24 billion. However, the net loss widened from INR660 million to INR1.57 billion, in part due to a fall in the value of the rupee.

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• Topics
• Exits
• South Asia
• Media
• Sell down
• India
• Apollo Global Management
• Exit
• Media