Mukesh Ambani has made a new move days ahead of the Reliance Disney merger. His wife Nita Ambani and son Akash Ambani now become members of the Viacom18 board, PTI reported quoting industry sources. The appointments came after the Star India merger, owned by Walt Disney and Viacom18, cleared the regulatory clearances from the fair trade regulator CCI and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Presently, Nita Ambani is the Reliance Foundation chairperson and Akash Ambani is the Reliance Jio Infocomm chairman.
Viacom18 will be merged with the India business of global media giant Walt Disney. Viacom18 is the holding company that owns the media and entertainment business of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The merger is in the final stages and both sides are making some adjustments in the business as per the Competition Commission of India (CCI) directions.
The merger of the media assets of Reliance Industries and The Walt Disney Co. will create the country's largest media empire worth over Rs 70,000 crore. Viacom18 is part of Reliance Industries, and SIPL is wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company. STPL, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, is owned indirectly by Walt Disney.
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Earlier on August 30, the NCLT had approved the scheme of merger of Viacom18 Media and Digital 18 Media, holding media and entertainment assets of Reliance Industries with Star India. The scheme had proposed the transfer and vesting of Media Operations Undertaking from Viacom 18 and Jio Cinema into Digital18, which is a subsidiary of Viacom 18. This would be followed by "demerger, transfer and vesting of V18 Undertaking from Digital 18 into Star India".
Earlier, the CCI had said it has cleared the "proposed combination involving Reliance Industries Ltd, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd, Digital18 Media Ltd, Star India Pvt Ltd and Star Television Productions Ltd, subject to the compliance of voluntary modifications".
(With inputs from PTI)
