Liberty Media eyes stake in Airtel DTH arm

Bharti Airtel is in talks with American media and communications giant Liberty Media to sell a stake in its unlisted direct-to-home business, as compulsory digitisation and higher foreign ownership limit drive firms to seek capital and market reach. 

According to reports, Bharti has informed three private equity firms that it was keen on selling a larger stake at a higher valuation. A strategic player with deep pockets will be better bet than private equity funds, the funds have been told.

These PE funds were in independent discussions with the company to buy a minority stake in the DTH business, which commands an 18% market share in subscribers. The likes of Temasek, Carlyle, ICICI Venture and American media company Comcast had shown interest in the company so far. 

The Bharti-Liberty talks are now focused on the American company buying 25% in the DTH unit. 

Liberty Media in talks for stake in Bharti Airtel's DTH Arm Bharti officials are believed to be pushing for the unit to be valued at about $1.5 billion. "The asking price of the company was too high for a financial sponsor to pay and hence, at that valuation, a strategic player is what the company looking at," said a managing director of a global private equity fund who had held initial discussions with the company.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/dth-news/item/2796-liberty-media-eyes-stake-in-airtel-dth-arm.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/dth-news/item/2796-liberty-media-eyes-stake-in-airtel-dth-arm.html