Times Private Treaties Backs Media and Entertainment

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Indian Media and Entertainment Industry is in investor spotlight.Times Private Treaties, Blackstone & Dainik Jagran have made recent investments in the space.

Times Private Treaties has a strong portfolio of companies in the increasingly favoured Media and Entertainment Space. These include companies like Manhattan Communications, Ok Play India, Percept Picture Company and Nimbus Communications (through it Nimbus and its associate company NEO Sports Broadcast).

Blackstone, a private equity fund, recently paid Rs 225 crore for an undisclosed stake in the Rs 846 crore Jagran Prakashan, the publishers of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran.

In turn, Dainik Jagran has acquired Midday through a shares swap. The recent action underscores the growing interest in media vehicles.

This interest and investments in media and entertainment space is of course not without a reason. According to Farokh Balsara, Media & Entertainment Leader, Ernst & Young Private Ltd. in India, “The media and entertainment industry in India has been, and will continue to be, one of the biggest beneficiaries of India’s favorable demographics,” He further adds, “Volumes of content consumption, vibrant indigenous content creation and a favorable regulatory framework, make India an attractive investment destination for global media and entertainment companies.”

“Global media and entertainment companies are increasingly focusing on the role emerging markets play in content consumption and creation. Leading global companies that fail to understand and optimize the opportunities in emerging markets may lose out on significant revenue growth,” said John Nendick, Global Media & Entertainment Leader for Ernst & Young.

A recent report released by Ernst & Young “Tune in to emerging entertainment markets: spotlight on Brazil, Russia, India and China,” highlights that in India, there is an increase in the number of channels and adoption of digital distribution platforms; the country has also become a hot bed for media content outsourcing and is the largest film-producing nation in the world. Satellite television subscribers in India, which currently account for 15% of the total 130 million television sets, are set to double in the next 2 years.