Shares of Eros International Media zoomed nearly 11% after the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries picked up 5% stake in the NYSE-listed parent company Eros International Plc. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd proposes to subscribe to 32,50,000 ‘A’ ordinary shares at $15 per share for cash aggregating to $48.75 million, translating to 5% equity stake on a fully diluted basis of Eros International Plc, RIL said in a regulatory filing. Following the development, the stock of Eros International Media surged as much as 10.77% to a day’s high of Rs 219 on BSE.
A heavy trading volume was witnessed in the shares of Eros International Media, as at 10:10 am, more than 26 lakh equity shares exchanged hands on both NSE and BSE with about 23 lakh on NSE alone. “Reliance Industries Limited (“RIL”), through its subsidiary, and Eros International Media Limited (“Eros India”) announced that they have agreed to partner in India to jointly produce and consolidate content from across India. The parties will equally invest up to Rs 1,000 crores in aggregate to produce and acquire Indian films and digital originals across all languages,” RIL said in a press release.
“We are pleased to join hands with Eros, as it will bring further synergies into our plans, making for a win-win partnership. We are delighted to welcome Ms Jyoti Deshpande into the Reliance family and believe that she will not only give wings to our plans but also play a pivotal role in transforming the sector,” Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, RIL said.
Meanwhile today, Indian equity markets retreated in the early morning session after inching higher in the opening deals with Sensex trading marginally higher around the levels of 33,750. The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 110.24 points or 0.33% to begin at 33,813.83 while NSE Nifty added 65.6 points or 0.63% to start the day at 10,426. Among the ‘A’ group of shares, stocks of L&T Tech, NIIT Tech, Mindtree and Mphasis emerged as the top gainers rising up to 7% while on the other hand, the shares of Vakrangee, Religare Enterprises, Hindalco, Biocon, Motherson Sumi Systems declined 2-5%.
