Subhash Chandra sells 2% in Zee for Rs 97 crore

Krishna Gopalan & Sudhir Shetty

Mumbai, Jan 4: Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra has diluted his stake in the company by 2 per cent for a total consideration of Rs 97 crore. Mr Chandra has sold a total of 85,00,000 shares at Rs 115 per share.

According to market sources, the shares have been sold either to one or more large investors. The largest chunk is reported to have been bought by Warburg Pincus with a smaller tranche being purchased by other investors. Post this development, Mr Chandra’s stake in Zee Telefilms stands at around 54 per cent. Zee officials were not available for comment.

Last year, Mr Chandra had announced that Zee Telefilms was looking to dilute a 26 per cent stake in favour of a strategic partner. Interestingly, it was Warburg Pincus that was appointed to be advisor for this particular deal.

It was also widely speculated that this would be in favour of AOL-Time Warner. Though no decision has emerged since then, Zee has tied up with Turner International to jointly distribute their network in the country. A dealer at a domestic brokerage said on the deal, “we have received the news that a large chunk of around 60 lakh shares changed hands with the management being the seller”.

On the BSE, Zee shares closed down Rs 2.10 at Rs 116.60 touching a high of Rs 126.90 and low of Rs 114.50 on a volume of 2.23 crore shares, while on the NSE, the shares closed up Rs 2.15 at Rs 120.30 on a volume of 120.30 crore shares.