Srini Raju to offload TV9 stake

HYDERABAD/MUMBAI: Serial entrepreneur Srini Raju promoted iLabs Capital and private equity firm SAIF Partners have struck a deal to offload their 80% stake in Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCL), which runs the TV9 chain of regional news channels, to a national media house and a US fund in a deal estimated at over Rs 500 crore.
The new investors will be picking up a controlling stake in ABCL and plan to expand the broadcasting company into the regional GEC (general entertainment channel) space, sources familiar with the development told TOI.
"A non-disclosure agreement has been inked by iLabs and SAIF with the new investors in Mumbai on Tuesday. The definitive agreement is expected to be signed within the next few weeks," a source close to the deal said. However, when contacted, iLabs Capital officials said that they cannot comment at this stage.
It is learnt that iLabs, which currently holds around 65% stake in ABCL, may even make a complete exit from the broadcasting company. iLabs has invested around Rs 80 crore in the Hyderabad-based regional TV news player in tranches since 2004. SAIF Partners, on the other hand, owns around 15% stake in the company, which it had picked up a few years earlier.
Srini Raju, who was one of the partners of Satyam Computers much before it gained notoriety and was Satyam's COO till 2000, went on to set up iLabs Capital in 2000. Raju was also the founding CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions. In 2007, iLabs Capital was rechristened Peepul Capital, which currently manages a capital of $700 million across its three funds with India-centric investments and has since its inception invested in around 29 companies across varied sectors.
Peepul Capital has already exited from Metlife, Intelligroup, Sify, IANS, it is still invested in ABCL and still holds stake in loyalty programme imint. In fact, ABCL is a holding company for Peepul Capital's ventures in media distribution.
TV9, a brand of ABC, started as a 24-hour Telugu news channel operating in Telugu and has since expanded into other regional languages like Gujarati, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, among others and also has an English news channel.