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Disney’s merger with Reliance Industries in India is going ahead after the country’s competition authority gave the deal a greenlight.
In a social media post earlier today, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said the merger could go ahead, “subject to the compliance of voluntary modifications.”
No word on what these might be, but last week Reuters reported authorities were concerned about how much of the ultra-lucrative cricket rights the operation would own. For example, Disney has the linear rights to the Indian Premier League, while Reliance’s JioCinema has the streaming rights.
C-2024/05/1155 Commission approves the proposed combination involving Reliance Industries Limited, Viacom18 Media Private Limited, Digital18 Media Limited, Star India Private Limited and Star Television Productions Limited, subject to the compliance of voluntary modifications. pic.twitter.com/S2JVzw2VgR
— CCI (@CCI_India) August 28, 2024Rumors of the deal began circulating last year before an agreement was struck at the end of February.
The transaction values the JV at ₹70,352 crore (around $8.5B), excluding synergies. Disney will hold about 37% of the venture, which combine the businesses of Mumbai-based Reliance Industries, its owned and controlled Viacom 18 Media, and Star India. As part of the transaction, Viacom18’s media biz will be merged into Star India Private.
The massive merged business will be much better equipped to compete with global streamers such as Netflix and Prime Video, at least in terms of size. Others such as Sony and ZEE Entertainment Enterprises have tried to team for similar pacts, though that ultimately collapsed at closing condition phase.
Earlier this week, Sony and ZEE released a statement saying they had put to bed all legal claims against each other over the failure.
The Disney-Reliance merger is set to close in October.
