While the talk around Zee Telefilms is whether AOL Time Warner will acquire a strategic stake in Subhash Chandra‘s company, the media baron seems to be on an acquisition spree of his own.

Hardly had the dust settled on Zee‘s buyout of ETC Networks Ltd (which runs channel etc and etc Punjabi), it was announced yesterday that Zee is acquiring a 32.8 per cent strategic stake in Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd (PTL). This is being done through the acquisition of a 64.3 per cent stake in PTL‘s holding company, Padmalaya Enterprises Pvt Ltd (PEPL).

ZTL will pay Rs 590 million in an all cash deal for the 32.8 per cent stake in PTL and includes a preferential allotment to be made by PTL to PEPL, and a mandatory 20 per cent open offer the holding company will have to make following the change in the ownership of promoters‘ holding. The preferential allotment will be at a price of Rs 142.20 per share and the open offer will be at the price of Rs 148.50 per share. ZTL has entered into an MoU with PTL for this acquisition.

"With this deal Zee will get access to Padmalaya‘s film library of 300 movies and 1,500 hours of TV software useful for sourthern markets and allows us to consolidate PTL financial‘s with ZTL‘s balance sheet," Chandra has been quoted as saying.

ZTL will hold 64.3 per cent in the holding company while PTL‘s present promoters, Seshagiri Rao and his family, will hold 36 per cent. PTL has convened an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of PTL on March 27 to seek shareholder approval for the preferential allotment.

Subsequent to this preferential allotment, PEPL will make an open offer (to be funded by ZTL for Rs 320 million) to the shareholders of PTL at a price of Rs 148.5 per share to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in PTL. Post-preferential allotment and open offer, PEPL‘s holding in PTL will be 51 per cent. ZTL and the promoters of PTL would jointly control management of PTL. Both Zee and PTL have the right to appoint nominees on the board of PTL relative to their respective shareholding PTL and PEPL.

Zee‘s acquisition of PTL creates an entertainment powerhouse with strengths in animation software, film production and distribution and television content. The synergising of the operations of the animation units of Zee and PTL will make it the largest animation filmmaker in Asia, the company claims.

Zee Television will examine the lives of celebrity personalities in-depth with a new show Jina Isi Ka Naam Hai. This is the first time Prannoy Roy‘s New Delhi Television (NDTV), that provides all content on Star News, has produced a programme for the channel.

The celebrity show is set to commence airing from 22 March every Friday at 9 pm.

The show will see important personalities from different walks of life like film, politics, sports take centrestage. The show will interact not just with the celebrities but also with people who have played important roles in their lives. In this way a well rounded personality will be exposed. Actor Shah Rukh Khan kicks off the action. His friends in school, a school teacher, his wife Gauri and her parents are among those who will be interviewed.

Subsequent episodes are expected to feature, among others, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly and Bihar political strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav.

The show is being produced by NDTV World, a wholly owned-subsidiary of NDTV. Roy had reportedly arranged funding to launch NDTV World as an entertainment channel but put the plans on hold as the prevailing climate of dwindling advertising revenue coupled with increasing programming costs was a major dampener.

ZEE ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO LATA SHOW: Zee TV has reportedly secured exclusive telecast rights for a mega Lata Mangeshkar musical programme organised in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Awaz Hi Pehchan Hai marked 60 years of India‘s most celebrated songstress‘s involvement in the recording business. Among the other singers who were present at the function included Udit Narayanan, Roop Kumar Rathod and Usha Mangeshkar.

At the function, Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra presented the singer with a cheque for Rs 10 million as a donation towards a facility for the poor at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Memorial Hospital in Pune city of Maharashtra state.