NDTV sells stake in auto e-commerce subsidiary

Group dilutes its share in Fifth Gear Ventures to 43%, from close to 79%; Autobyte Private gets controlling stake

Prannoy Roy-owned New Delhi Television (NDTV) has given up control of its subsidiary Fifth Gear Ventures Limited (FGVL) by diluting its stake in the company. The NDTV Group (NDTV and its subsidiary NDTV Convergence) held 78.74 per cent stake in the subsidiary, the remaining being held by the Chennai-based Autobyte Private Limited (ABPL). The company notified the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) of the shareholders’ decision, in favour of the proposed stake dilution, on September 21.

Earlier this year, the group sold its entire stake in NDTV Ethnic Retail, the subsidiary that ran the e-commerce portal indiaroots.com (retailed in ethnic Indian wear). The group held stake in the venture through its subsidiaries NDTV Lifestyle Holdings Ltd, NDTV Convergence Ltd and NDTV Worldwide Ltd. Together, the three held 99.92 per cent stake in NDTV Ethnic Retail. The group sold its stake in the venture to Nameh Hotels and Resorts.

At the time, the NDTV Group had said that the decision to sell stake in ethnic e-tail was in line with its focus on developing its core business, which is news broadcast and digital operations.

FGVL housed the group’s car and bike portal (carandbike.com), which is a news and e-commerce portal on automobiles. The buyers of NDTV’s stake– ABPL– have been managing the website so far, and now will have complete control over it. A source close to the development said, "ABPL was doing a good job at generating revenue on the portal and running it in general. Moreover, the auto portal is not completely core to NDTV's business and so, it made sense to dilute stake in the venture."