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Samara Capital acquires NewsWire18 for $16.5m

  • Andrew Woodman
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Samara Capital has entered an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Indian news terminal business NewsWire18 for INR900 million ($16.5 million).

The majority stake was sold to Samara by Network 18 Media & Investments, which announced that it was in the process of divesting non-core assets in order to focus on its television and digital business. According to LiveMint, the deal was for a 70% stake.

NewsWire18 provides news feeds to institutional clients and media houses in India. The Network18 Group also operates television channels through a series of partnerships, including India's versions of CNBC, MTV and CNN.
The company was formed in 2006 after Network18 acquired Crisil MarketWire, a local financial news agency.

The transaction is expected to add around INR700 million to Network18's consolidated pre-tax profit for the December quarter.

"We believe that the information services market in India is at the cusp of significant growth and provides for exciting opportunities," said Paurush Roy, a managing director at Samara. "Newswire18 is well-positioned to capture this opportunity because of its strong market position in India."

BMR Advisors was the sole adviser to Network18 on the deal.

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