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Capital International primed for exit from India's MSM

  • Andrew Woodman
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Capital International is expected to exit its minority stake in India's Multi Screen Media (MSM) to Sony as the Japanese conglomerate's TV production subsidiary assumes full ownership of the business.

Capital International picked up an 8% stake in MSM for $200 million in 2000 and still holds 6%. Sony Pictures Television (SPT) increased its holding in the company to 94% in June last year when it bought a 32% stake from MSM's Indian shareholders for $271 million.

Andy Kaplan, SPT's president of worldwide networks, told Indiantelevision.com that he hoped to complete the deal by the end of this year.

SPT's growth plans in India also include the full acquisition of regional broadcaster Maa Television Network, having taken a 30% stake in Hyderabad-based broadcaster last year. SPT also bought Bengali channel, Channel 8, in 2009.

Capital International has around $3.7 billion under management across five funds. It announced the final close on its sixth fund, an emerging markets-focused vehicle, last year at $3 billion. The private equity firm's previous India investments include L&T Financial Holdings.

Other transactions in India's media space include Samara Capital's purchase of a majority stake in Indian news terminal business NewsWire18 for INR900 million ($16.5 million) last December. Earlier last year, Providence Equity Partners jointly invested INR3.58 billion with Macquarie Bank for a 17.3% stake in Hathway Cable & Datacom.

 

 

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