New Delhi Television (NDTV) Limited on Monday said that it is looking at a potential sale of some strategic assets held by its subsidiaries as per a LiveMint report by Harveen Ahluwalia.
NDTV runs the news channels NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India among others.
In a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said, “...board meeting of the company that is being convened to consider, inter alia, potential sale of certain strategic assets by certain material subsidiary(ies) of the company.”
The company added in the filing that the trading window for dealing in the securities of the company will remain closed for 48 hours from the conclusion of the date of the board meeting starting from April 17.
However, the company hasn’t specified the assets / properties that it plans to sell.
Currently, NDTV also operates business news channel NDTV Profit/NDTV Prime, lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times and e-commerce verticals in ethnic wear (IndianRoots.com), automobile (CarAndBike.com), gadgets (Gadgets360.com), health foods (SmartCooky.com) and wedding preparation (BandBaajaa.com) sectors, as per the report.
According to media experts, the assets which NDTV is looking to sell could be either some of the TV channels in its broadcasting business or in its e-commerce vertical.
“The last few months have seen unprecedented consolidation in the media and entertainment space. Companies are increasingly exiting businesses they may not have the appetite to scale up. The idea is to focus on core businesses and upscale with efficiency rather than spread thin horizontally,” said Priyanka Chaudhary, regional media and entertainment spokesperson for Grant Thornton.