Reliance Industries to invest Rs 413 crore in Balaji Telefilms

Balaji Telefilms Ltd. on Wednesday approved an investment by Reliance Industries through a preferential issue of 2.52 crore equity shares at Rs 164 each, totaling to Rs 413.28 crore. 

Jeetendra Kapoor, Balaji’s Chairman, said, “We welcome Reliance Industries Limited as a partner in our growth journey towards becoming the preferred content producer for the Indian diaspora across all means of video consumption and across all geographies. This investment is a vote of confidence to the Company’s strategic move to own our IP and our viewers."

Axis Capital Limited acted as the sole investment banker for this transaction, Balaji Telefilms said in a regulatory filing. 

Balaji had recently launched ALTBalaji (“ALT”), a multi-device subscription video on demand platform, which offers original, premium and exclusive content for a global digital audience. Post its launch, it has garnered over 4 million downloads across 80 countries. 

"This transaction marks a landmark event for the Indian OTT industry and is expected to further accelerate the growing trend of media consumption ‘on-the-go’. The proceeds from the transaction would be utilized to further speed up content development initiatives, especially for ALT, thereby providing it with a strong ability to compete with other OTT service providers- both global and Indian," the company said.