JSA, AZB on Viacom’s 50% acquisition of Prism TV for 940 crore

US-based media firm Viacom Inc through its wholly owned subsidiary Nickelodeon Asia Holdings has acquired 50 per cent stake in Prism TV – an entity of Reliance Industries-owned Network18 Group for 940 crore ($ 153 million)..The shares of Prism TV were purchased from Shinano Retail, a company effectively 100% owned by Reliance Industries..J. Sagar Associates acted for Viacom. The JSA team included Partner Akshay Nagpal, Senior Associate Kaustubh George and Associates Upasana Gupta and Sonali Kapoor..Partners Dhirendra Negi and Amitabh Kumar, Head of Telecom Practice S.P. Purwar and Senior Associate Gautam Shahi also gave inputs on certain specific aspects of the transaction. Chairman & Founder Jyoti Sagar too provided strategic inputs from time to time..AZB & Partners acted for Shinano Retail and Reliance with a team led by Partner Shuva Mandal along with Roxeanne Anderson..Prism TV owns and operates regional entertainment channels in India, including ETV Marathi, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, ETV Oriya and ETV Gujarati, all of which were recently rebranded under the ‘COLORS’ umbrella..With this acquisition, Viacom will hold 50 per cent of Prism TV and the remaining will continue to be owned by the Network18 Group, Viacom’s partner in the Viacom18 joint venture, reports Business Standard.