Reliance Industries Shares Climb on Disney Deal

New Delhi, Feb 29 (PTI) Shares of Reliance Industries on Thursday ended nearly 1 per cent higher after Walt Disney Co and the firm announced the signing of binding pacts to merge their media operations in India to create a Rs 70,000 crore behemoth.

The stock of the country's most valued firm in terms of market valuation ended at Rs 2,924.75, up 0.54 per cent on the BSE. During the day, it climbed 1.68 per cent to Rs 2,958.

Shares of the company ended with a gain of 0.66 per cent at Rs 2,930.75 on the NSE. During the day, it went up by 1.60 per cent to Rs 2,957.95.

The company's market valuation stood at Rs 19,78,794.25 crore.

In the broader equity market, the 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 195.42 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 72,500.30, and the Nifty went up by 31.65 points or 0.14 per cent to 21,982.80.

Under the deal, coming just over a month after the failed USD 10 billion merger of rivals Zee and Sony, Reliance and its affiliates will hold 63.16 per cent in the combined entity that will house two streaming services and 120 television channels.

Disney will hold the remaining 36.84 per cent, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

Reliance has also agreed to invest at closing Rs 11,500 crore into the joint venture to give it the muscle to fight rivals such as Japan's Sony and Netflix.

Media ventures of Reliance are housed in Network 18, which owns TV18 news channels as well as a plethora of entertainment (under the 'Colors' brand) and sports channels. NW18 also has stakes in moneycontrol.com, bookmyshow and publishes magazines.

Its subsidiary NW18 owns news channels CNBC/CNNNews.

Reliance separately owns a movie production arm - JioStudios, and majority stakes in two listed cable distribution companies, Den and Hathway.