Deal values Reliance Entertainment at some $3.3 billion, making it the most valuable entertainment company in the fast-developing territory.Reliance Entertainment controls the Adlabs group, which is India's biggest film processor, and in recent years has diversified to become a front-running movie production and theater operation.
Group has been a leading investor in the fast developing FM radio sector, has plunged into Internet services and is on course to become a direct-to-home satellite TV platform operator later this year. It operates Zapak, a gaming portal; Big Adda, a social network and social media venture; Big Flicks, an on- and off-line movie rentals business; and Jump Mobile, a mobile entertainment venture.
New coin is to be used to expand Reliance Entertainment's activities in all these sectors and it is likely to tap other financing, including a possible partial flotation.
This is yet another major vote of confidence by a foreign investor in the Indian entertainment sector and the latest in a number of deals that have previously seen the likes of NBC Universal spending $150m to buy a 24 per cent stake in New Delhi TV (NDTV), Disney buying a stake in UTV and Warner Bros partnering post facilities Prasad and Prime Focus.
Not much later the news was confirmed that Reliance Entertainment will indeed float, with today's IPO of elaince Power set to make Anil Ambani the richest Indian, with the Reliance Entertainment IPO likely to make him the world's richest man.
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