Temasek in talks with Tata Group to offload 20% stake in Tata Play
Temasek is in advanced talks with the Tata Group to sell its 20% stake in Tata Play to the Indian conglomerate that owns the largest stake in the direct-to-home (DTH) company, people privy to the development told ET.
«There has been a lot of movement in the discussions between the two companies in the past few weeks,» one of the people said.
The Singapore government-owned company wants to sell its stake at a valuation of over $1 billion, another person said. This is far less than the $2 billion valuation that another stakeholder, Walt Disney Co, was eyeing in 2021.
«At one point, the Tata Play shareholders were looking at a valuation of close to $3 billion,» this person added.
Temasek said it does not comment on market speculation.
Tata Group and Tata Play declined to comment.
A media veteran said a valuation of $1 billion for Tata Play will be a massive discount compared to what the company was valued for earlier. «Temasek has been desperately trying to exit Tata Play, but they have not been able to exit due to differences over valuation and failed attempts at doing a public listing,» he added.
Temasek first bought a 10% stake in Tata Play, which was earlier known as Tata Sky, for a reported '250 crore in 2007.
Experts say that the DTH business has been under stress due to subscriber churn from pay-DTH to DD Free Dish and over-the-top platforms.
«DD Free Dish is eating into the pay-DTH base in rural and semi-urban areas while OTT is chipping away at the top end of the customer base,» a media executive said on the condition of anonymity.
«Free cricket streaming by Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema will cause a further dent in their subscriber base,» the executive added.
The active subscriber base of pay-DTH
