Blackstone exits Indian newspaper publisher

The private equity firm sold its 12.8% stake in Jagran Media across two tranches in March and April, according to a disclosure. The entire holding was bought by the company’s existing promoters for an undisclosed amount. Following the deal, Jagran Media will have no remaining foreign investors.

Jagran Media holds a 60.6% stake in Jagran Prakashan, which manages 10 print publications including India’s most-read daily newspaper Dainik Jagran. The company also manages a network of 39 radio stations with over 45 million listeners, along with nine digital media portals that get 40 million unique visitors and 343 million page views per month.

Blackstone invested INR2.3 billion (then $50 million) in Jagran Media in 2010, in expectation of significant growth in India’s print media industry driven by increasing personal consumption levels in lower-tier cities and rural areas. At the time India was one of the few markets where traditional media markets were expected to show growth in the near term.

Currently, Blackstone is investing its seventh global private equity fund, which closed in 2015 at $18 billion. The firm claims more than $100 billion in private equity assets under management across 81 portfolio companies.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Media
• Buyback
• India
• The Blackstone Group
• Exit