The Silicon Review ^Asia

Reliance Industries (RIL) is now in plans to gain a controlling stake in multi-system-operator GTPL Hathway. The GTPL Hathway has a command in the Gujarat market according to trusted sources. Reliance has also announced that it wants to acquire Hathway Cable as well as Datacom & Den Networks, two of the largest cable TV and broadband service providers in the country. As GTPl has strong financials, the move to acquire it makes sense in terms of profits for Reliance. Around 37.3 percent of GTPL Hathway is owned by Hathway, and after the acquisition of a 51.3 percent stake of Hathway, Reliance Industries will get a 19 percent stake in GTPL Hathway.

A spokesperson from the company said, “Already, because of Hathway, RIL has got almost 20 percent stake in the company. The talks are in initial stages and the announcement will be after the open offer.”  25.64 percent of Hathway is offered for a price of Rs 82.65 per share that sums up to a total consideration of Rs 238.37 crore. The acquisition will further its Mukesh Ambani’s ambitions of connecting 50 million homes across 1,100 cities with its JioGigaFiber.

With around 7.6 million active digital cable subscribers in India, GTPL Hathway has bagged up a 67 percent market share in Gujarat and a 24 percent share in West Bengal. It has made its presence in over 500 cities in 11 states.Earlier, RIL announced that it will buy a 51.2 percent stake of Hathway for Rs 2,940 crore and 66 percent of DEN for Rs 2,290 crore.