Advanced Television

Bank takes 24% of India’s Dish TV

June 1, 2020

By Chris Forrester

India’s Yes Bank has acquired a 24.19 per cent stake in Essel Group’s DTH giant Dish TV India.

“Shares have been acquired on invocation of pledge of shares in a one-time transaction,” stated the bank in a release.

Reportedly, Dish had used a 44.53 per cent equity stake as collateral with the bank against loans. Dish’s backers owned a total of 54.56 per cent of the company of which more than 93 per cent had been pledged as at March 31st.

“Shares have been acquired pursuant to invocation of pledge of the shares subsequent to default/breach of terms of credit facilities sanctioned by Yes Bank to Essel Business Excellence Services Ltd, Essel Corporate Resources Private Ltd, Living Entertainment Enterprises Private Ltd, Last Mile Online Ltd, Pan India Network Infravest Ltd, RPW Projects Private Ltd, Mumbai WTR Private Ltd & Pan India Infraprojects Private Ltd,” the bank said.

Dish – and the Essel Group – have been under financial pressure despite being a major player in the Indian market. Dish merged with Videocon d2h in 2018 and had been working to merge with Airtrl Digital DTV this past winter but the paid could not agree on terms.

Worryingly, since the start of 2020 Dish TV share values have fallen 67 per cent to just 4.28 Rupees per share.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, DTH/Satellite, M&A

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