News Corp arm sells stake in Hathway for Rs360 crore
12 Mar 2012
Asian Cable Systems Private Ltd, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has sold its 17.3 per cent stake in Indian cable television services provider Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, for Rs360 crore.
The company sold 24.7 million shares of Hathway to Providence Equity Advisors and Macquarie at about Rs145 a share, according to filings with the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
This sale is at a discount of about 18.5 per cent to Hathway's closing share price of Rs177.90 on Friday on the National Stock Exchange.
The Hathway stock gained 0.4 per cent at Rs178.60 on the NSE, while the benchmark Nifty rose 0.5 per cent. On the BSE the Hathway share ended up 0.8 per cent at Rs179.30, while the broader market index rose 0.5 per cent.
Asian Cable Systems was the biggest shareholder in the company before the sale.
Promoted by the Raheja Group, Hathway is one of the largest MSO and cable broadband service providers in India. The company is pan-India operator, offering cable television services across 140 cities and towns and high-speed cable broadband services across 21 cities.
