 "Kumar Mangalam Birla looks to exit investment in India Today's holding company")
Kumar Mangalam Birla may reportedly be set to offload his minority stake in Living Media, the holding company that owns 57.2 percent stake in the TV Today Network.
According to a report in the Economic Times_,_ the Aditya Birla Group has appointed Bank of America Merill Lynch for exiting the two-year-old investment in the Aroon Purie-controlled group.
Birla had bought 27.5 percent stake in the holding company of the India Today Group in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. Media reports had at the time pegged the investment at Rs 350 crore but Birla has reportedly hiked the stake to around 34-35 percent.
The ET report said Birla’s personal investment had been linked to certain milestones and has valued the total infusion at around Rs 700 crore.
Ever since Birla bought the stake in Living Mediain May 2012, TV Today stock has gained 189 percent from Rs 54 to Rs 156. (see graph)
[caption id=“attachment_93839” align=“aligncenter” width=“600”]  Data: CapitaLine Plus[/caption]
Purie’s publishing empire includes Business Today, India Today and a clutch of licensed magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Men’s Health,Travel Plus and Harvard Business Review, among others. Living Media also ownsfour news channels - Headlines Today, Aaj Tak, Tez and Delhi Aaj Tak .
Currently, there are no no cross-media ownership restrictions in print, TV and radio in India but Birla’s decision to exit the group comes just days after the T elecom Regulatory Authority of India recommended several restriction on corporate houses owning stake in media ownership. ( Read details here ).
_Disclosure: Network 18, which publishes Firstpost and Firstbiz, is now part of the Reliance Group
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