NSR puts 9X Media sale plan on back burner
New Silk Route Advisors (NSR), an India-focused private equity fund, has put its plan to sell Bollywood music channel 9X Media on the back burner. According to sources, NSR and Pradeep Guha, who owns a minority stake in 9X Media, have decided not to continue the sell-off discussions for the time being. It was during end-2013 that NSR had announced its plan to sell off 9X Media.
9X Media operates five music channels - 9XM (Bollywood music), 9X Tashan (Punjabi music), 9X Jalwa (retro bollywood hits), 9X Jhakaas (Marathi music) and 9XO (International music). NSR holds about 80 per cent stake in 9X Media and Guha holds 15 per cent, while the rest is held by other shareholders.
Confirming the development, Guha added, "All our expansion plans are on the right track." He however, refused to share details. Darius Pandole, partner, NSR, too, declined to comment.
The company was founded as INX Media by Peter Mukerjea, former Star India chief executive officer, and his wife, Indrani, in 2006. In 2007, the Mukerjeas sold around 30 per cent stake to private equity players - NSR, Kotak Equity Fund, Temasek and New Vernon - and exited the company in 2009.
Guha joined as managing director in 2009, after he left Zee Entertainment. In 2010, NSR increased its stake from 20 per cent to 80 per cent, while Guha received about 15 per cent stake and the name was changed to 9X Media.
The company's loss-making channels such as Hindi general entertainment channel 9X and INX News were sold to Zee Entertainment and Indi Media, respectively.
According to people in the know, NSR is yet to see a serious buyer for the channels and it prefers to wait for market conditions to improve, so that it can exit at a decent return. In the interim, the company will try to scale up business to make it a good acquisition target, it is learnt.
Last month, 9XM had collaborated with DJ Chetas to launch a Bollywood dance music show titled '9XM House of Dance'. Three-year-old 9X Jhakaas has also been thriving as a platform for promoting new Marathi releases.
NSR is in the process of exiting its various investments in 2015. With a 22.5 per cent stake in VRL Logistics, it will make a part-exit through the latter's coming Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Similarly, NSR-backed regional cable TV and broadband distribution firm Ortel Communications is launching an IPO, where NSR will sell its 33.5 per cent stake. The sale of NSR-owned IT- Destimoney Enterprises, the retail financial services and distribution company, has also reached the final stage.
NSR's other investments in India include Moshe's Fine Foods, Kiran Energy, Vasudev Adigas Fast Food, Nectar Lifesciences, Cafe Coffee Day, KS Oils and Ascend Telecom Infrastructure.
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First Published: Jan 15 2015 | 12:41 AM IST