Ushodaya Enterprises Limited ("UEL" or the "Company"), a leading
Indian Media Company and The Blackstone Group, announced today that
UEL's Board of Directors have approved an agreement where The
Blackstone Group and its affiliates ("Blackstone") are expected to
acquire a stake in the Company and have representation on the Board of
UEL. As part of this transaction, UEL expects to raise $465 million
comprised of a $275 million investment by Blackstone and $190 million
of bank financing. No further terms of the deal were disclosed. The
transaction is subject to regulatory approval by Foreign Investment
Promotion Board and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Kotak Investment Banking acted as the sole investment banking advisor
to the transaction.
Mr. Ramoji Rao, Chairman of UEL, stated, "We were impressed with
Blackstone's disciplined and highly rigorous investment process and
the ability to combine this emphasis with a deep and genuine respect
for the promoter's interests and desire to add value. The Company had
access to several financing options, including an IPO; but we decided
to go with Blackstone because we believe that at this stage of our
growth we have an opportunity to create significant value by
leveraging Blackstone's outstanding experience and track record in the
global media sector."
Mr. Akhil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Blackstone
Advisors India Private Limited, stated, "We believe that the Indian
media sector will be a key beneficiary of a secular trend in growth in
personal consumption that is driving India's economic expansion which
in turn will spur advertising growth. Importantly, we believe that UEL
is an ideal platform for Blackstone to play this highly attractive
sector in India. Over the last three decades, Mr. Rao has created a
unique media company with a dominant newspaper franchise built on
editorial integrity and a TV franchise built through deep cultural
understanding of the markets and truly regional content. We have been
very impressed by UEL's management team and feel privileged that Mr.
Rao has chosen Blackstone to be UEL's partner as the Company enters
this very important next phase of its growth."
About Ushodaya Enterprises Limited
UEL is a leading Indian media business that owns the third largest
newspaper and the fourth largest private television broadcasting
network in the country. Eenadu, UEL's newspaper, has maintained over
the last 10 years, a readership which is higher than all the other
newspapers combined in the state of Andhra Pradesh. UEL's ETV
franchise enjoys strong market positions in several of its markets: #
1 ranked TV channels in West Bengal and Orissa, #2 ranked TV channels
in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and #1 ranked regional TV channels in
Gujarat and Maharashtra. The parent company of UEL, Ramoji Group, owns
Ramoji Film City which is Asia's largest studio.
About The Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group, a global private investment and advisory
firm, was founded in 1985. The firm has raised a total of more than
$75 billion for alternative asset investing since its formation of
which over $30 billion has been for private equity investing. The
Private Equity Group has over 60 experienced professionals with broad
sector expertise. Blackstone's other core businesses include Private
Real Estate Investing, Corporate Debt Investing, Hedge Funds, Mutual
Fund Management, Private Placement, Marketable Alternative Asset
Management, and Investment Banking Advisory Services. Further
information is available at http://www.blackstone.com.
