BENGALURU: TV Today Network Limited (TVTN) has informed the bourses that its board of directors has inter-alia approved the acquisition of equity shares of Mail Today Newspapers Private Limited (Mail Today) from its other shareholders and to reorganise its radio business subject to the requisite approvals.

Mail Today

TVTN says that Mail Today is of strategic importance to it and can be of great value in the future. Living Media India Limited (LMIL) holds 66.78 percent of the equity shares through its wholly owned subsidiary India Today Online Private Limited (ITOPL), while AN (Mauritius) Limited holds 25.21 percent of the equity shares of Mail Today. Both the entities will transfer the shares to TVTN as a gift so that Mail Today becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. TVTN has valued the equity shares held by ITOPL at Rs 26.80 crore and those held by AN (Mauritius) Limited at Rs 10.12 crore. TVTN says that the fair value loss under IND AS in connection with investment in Mail Today shares presently held by the company amounted to Rs 42.30 crore.

Mail Today has an authorised share capital of Rs 135 crore, out of which Rs129.09 crore is the paid up capital. It had turnover of Rs 40.43 crore and profit after tax of Rs 6.01 crore for FY-15-16.

Radio Business

The TVTN board of directors have approved the acquisition of 100 percent the paid-up capital of Vibgyor Broadcasting Private Limited (VBPL) for the purpose of re-organising its radio business by transferring its radio business through slump sale to VBPL. The price at which the transfer is to take place will be decided at the next board meeting.

TVTN says that the transfer of the radio business into a separate company is being done to segregate the radio business operations and to have better focused management for the same and enhance the business value in the subsidiary.

It may be recalled that TVTN has been partially successful in selling off a few of its radio stations to Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL, Radio Mirchi) of the Bennet Coleman group and has also recently signed ENIL on to hawk ads for its three remaining stations. Permission to sell the remaining three stations to ENIL has been denied by the MIB.