MUMBAI: US-based Apollo Management will take a 11 per cent stake in the expanded equity of Dish TV, marking its first media investment in India.
Apollo will pump in $100 million to subscribe to Dish TV‘s GDR (Global Depositary Receipt) issue. Dish TV has priced its GDR at Rs 39.80 per share of Re 1 each.
Indiantelevision.com was the first to report that Dish TV would be going in for a GDR issue as it plans to raise up to $200 million to fund its expansion programme.
"Dish TV will issue 117.03 million equity shares in the form of 117,035 GDRs, at a price of $ 854.5 per GDR (with each GDR representing 1,000 equity shares of Re 1 each), aggregating $100 million," the company said.
The deal is expected to settle on 30 November, subject to customary closing conditions.
Says Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel, “Apollo has a strong track record of investing in growing businesses, especially in the media sector, and with their investment, Dish TV will be well capitalised to build on its market leadership and pursue its ambitious business objectives.”
Dish TV has an aggressive target of mopping up 2.5 million subscribers this fiscal. But with the fund raising in place, the DTH operator hopes to up its earlier target of having eight million subscribers by FY‘10.
Apollo Management has approximately $50 billion in assets under management, in private equity and credit-oriented capital markets invested across a core group of industries where it has considerable knowledge and resources. Apollo’s recent and current investments in the media and satellite space include Hughes Network Systems, Intelsat, Sirius Satellite Radio, CableCom and UnityMedia.
