Zee Entertainment to acquire 9X Media

Media tycoon Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd has agreed acquire 9X Media Pvt. Ltd and its unit INX Music Pvt. Ltd for a total of Rs 160 crore in cash. Zee has signed a pact to buy 9X and INX Music from private equity firm Rivendell PE LLC, earlier known as New Silk Route, and other shareholders.

In a separate transaction, the media company will acquire the 26% stake it doesn’t already own in Zee Turner Ltd from joint venture partners Turner International India Pvt. Ltd for Rs 2.6 lakh. The joint venture was set up in 2001 to distribute Zee and Turner channels but stopped active operations a few years ago. Meanwhile, Zee said it will buy 100% of 9X Media for Rs 155.20 crore and spend Rs 4.80 crore to buy 29.15% of INX Music; 9X Media owns the remaining 70.85% of INX Music. The deal is likely to be concluded within two months.

Zee operates 33 channels while 9X Media runs five music channels—9XM, 9X Jalwa and 9X Bajao in Hindi, 9X Jhakkas in Marathi and 9XO in English—and INX broadcasts Punjabi channel 9X Tashan. The target company’s Bollywood news portal, SpotBoyE, will also be part of the transaction. 9X and INX Music posted consolidated loss Rs 5.1 crore in the year through March 2017 on total revenue of Rs 158.6 crore. This compares with a profit of Rs 11.7 crore on revenue of Rs 176.2 crore the year before.

9X Media, previously known as INX Media, was founded in 2007 by Indrani Mukerjea and housed the Hindi general entertainment channel 9X as well. In 2010, ZEEL bought the said Hindi GEC for Rs 64 crore. The same year, the company changed its name to 9X Media and focused its energies on growing its music portfolio.