NDTV offloads 76% in Imagine to Turner Asia for Rs 315 crore

New Delhi: Concluding its four-stage restructuring, New Delhi Television (NDTV) on Tuesday inked a deal with Turner Asia Pacific for selling its 76% holding in NDTV Imagine for $67 million (Rs 315 crore). After this deal, NDTV will hold 5% stake in NDTV Imagine through its subsidiary NDTV Networks. With the completion of restructuring, NDTV has become a debt-free company, said Vikram Chandra, CEO of NDTV Networks.      In November, NDTV had offered 69% stake in its subsidiary NDTV Lifestyle, which runs NDTV Good-Times channel, to US-based Scripps Networks for $55 million to form a strategic alliance for lifestyle channels in India. In the JV company, NDTV owns 31% stake. In these two deals, NDTV raised $122 million.      In one of the four parts of restructuring, NDTV had repurchased the $100 million bond due for repayment in 2012 for $72.40 million in November 2009. The bond had a put option due in May 2010, which could have forced the company to pay the maturity amount of $117 million. To avoid that situation, thecompany repurchased the bond at a discounted price. The repurchase of the bond also freed the group from various obligations.      As part of the restructuring, NDTV also bought back the 26% stake in NDTV Networks from NBC Universal in October 2009. NBC Universal had acquired the stake in the company in May 2008. Now, NDTV Networks, which is a holding company of the non-news business of the group, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDTV.      Turner Asia Pacific will further invest an additional $50 million in NDTV Imagine through issuance of fresh shares, which would increase its stake to around 85% and that of NDTV will come down to around 3.5%.