The curious case of Disney’s 30% stake in Tata Play
Mint that nobody has shown any interest in buying the stake, neither Tata Group nor Reliance Industries Ltd, with which Disney is merging its local unit Disney Star. “The fact is that Disney doesn’t want anything to do with the distribution business. That’s not their core, and they have been seeking an exit since they acquired the stake following the purchase of the Fox assets," said one of the persons on condition of anonymity.
“While they have approached the Tata Group multiple times, there is no interest to invest or buy back from this side." Walt Disney, a global entertainment behemoth with operations spanning films, TV networks, theme parks, consumer products, and video streaming, does not possess stakes or financial interests in any distribution company elsewhere. Email queries sent to the Tata Group, Tata Play, Reliance Industries and Disney Star did not elicit any response by press time. The stake in Tata Play is outside the proposed $8.5-billion merger between Reliance Industries-owned Viacom18 and Disney’s local business, announced in February this year.
As part of the deal, Disney will transfer all its India assets and employees — except its stake in Tata Play, its consumer products business, and VFX studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)—to its wholly owned subsidiary Star India. Post the merger, Reliance will effectively control the JV. It will have a direct stake of 16.34% in the company, while its step-down subsidiary Viacom18 will have 46.82%.
Disney will own 36.84% of the JV. To be sure, Disney hoped to exit Tata Play via a public listing of the company’s shares and a partial stake sale to strategic investors. In fact, Tata Play had in 2020 appointed corporate law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) to
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