Tata Play may file for IPO this month
Sunday, 4 September 2022
MUMBAI, Sept 3: Tata Sky, the satellite television business of the Tata group, which was rebranded as Tata Play Ltd at the start of the year, is likely to file the draft prospectus for its initial public offering by the end of this month, which is likely to range between $300-400 million at least, said two people aware of the development, speaking on the condition of anonymity, reports livemint.com.
Tata Sky commenced operations in 2004 as an 80:20 joint venture between Tata Sons and Network Digital Distribution Services FZ-LLC (NDDS), an entity owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21 Century Fox. Disney acquired Fox in 2019. Disney owns another 9.8% stake in Tata Sky through TS Investments Ltd, where Fox owned 49% stake with Tata owning the rest.
In FY '08, Baytree Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd, an affiliate of Temasek acquired a 10% stake in Tata Sky, while in FY '13, Tata Opportunities Fund and Tata Capital Ltd acquired an equity stake in the company. Tata Sons has a 41.49% stake in the company.
"Work on the IPO had started last year but was put on the back burner for a while as the company undertook a rebranding exercise and the markets too started to look difficult in the early part of the calendar year. However, work on the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was restarted recently and efforts are in full swing to file the DRHP by end of this month," said the first person cited above.
In January, the Tata group rebranded Tata Sky as Tata Play to reflect its business interests growing beyond Direct To Home services and aid further diversification into allied businesses such as OTT and broadband.
The proposed IPO will see investors Temasek and Tata Capital sell part of their stakes in the company, while the company also plans to raise money for its use.
"Temasek and Tata Capital have been invested in the company for a long time. So they are looking to dilute their holdings. The final quantum of the secondary stake sales is still under discussion. The company will also raise primary capital to invest in growing its businesses in areas beyond DTH, especially broadband," said the second person cited above.
The IPO size is expected to be in the range of $300-400 million, he added.