Archive for the ‘Indian Billionaires’ Category

Sibling rivalry spurs Anil Ambani to merge his firm with MTN

June 24, 2008

Ambani\'sAnil Ambani’s interest in merging his Reliance Communications with South African cellphone operator MTN Group is spurred by his fierce business rivalry with his older brother Mukesh, The Wall Street Journal wrote here on Friday.

The proposed merger will give Anil first bragging rights to a major international deal in the latest round of him and Mukesh vying to outdo each other since their father’s death left them in control of one of India’s biggest companies, the WSJ said.

For the deal Anil may have to swap all or part of his 66 percent stake in his company for a big stake in MTN, making him the largest shareholder in a telecommunications empire with more than 100 million subscribers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

He wants to work with MTN to expand into markets outside India. The combination would make both companies more efficient and give them the firepower to expand at the brisk rate Anil prefers, people familiar with his thinking say, reported the Journal.

 

The world’s foremost business daily noted that the rivalry between the Ambani brothers has helped make each of them among the world’s richest men — and triggered the split of the company they inherited.

The MTN deal is, however, risky and may never happen, the paper said. But it is the latest bold step in Anil’s career as a dealmaker. A creative negotiator, he told his executives that they need to find a way to join forces that would work for MTN, which has entered discussions with various companies including Sunil Mittal’s Bharti, but never closed a deal.

“Let’s try to understand what MTN is looking for and craft a solution that meets their objections. We need to find some different approach that will make them want to deal with us,” Anil said, according to one executive as quoted by the Journal.

Reliance Communications – market value under $30 billion — and MTN – valued at $40 billion -have agreed to 45 days of exclusive talks. If the deal happens, Anil would be the largest shareholder in the combined company and would continue to run the business in India.

Giving the background to Ambani brothers’ rivalry, the Journal compared it to a family soap opera. After their father Dhirubhai Ambani’s death in 2002 without a will, Mukesh Ambani, now 51, assumed control of most of the Reliance group companies’ boards as well as the family’s 40 percent plus holding in the flagship, Reliance Industries Ltd.

While Anil and Mukesh appeared to work well together earlier to build the family business, with Dhirubhai gone, their differing personalities and Mukesh’s position as chief custodian of the family business soured their relationship.

Mukesh, the more sombre of the two, agreed to an arranged marriage, and has been the builder, spearheading the construction of Reliance’s massive refining and telecommunications projects.

Anil, 48, has been the deal maker, a polished interlocutor with foreign investors. Married to a former film star, he appears in the society pages of Indian newspapers with his Bollywood friends, the Journal said.

In 2004, Anil took his battle with Mukesh public. He accused Reliance of everything from ignoring shareholders to financial irregularities. He and directors loyal to him offered to resign from the boards of some Reliance companies. Mukesh eventually relinquished control of close to 30 percent of the group, which Anil spun into his own group.

The two brothers to this day rarely talk, people close to them say, even though they share an 18-storey mansion in south Mumbai, the Journal said.

Reliance Communications became the flagship of Anil’s interests, now assembled under Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group. The group includes finance company Reliance Capital and power company Reliance Infrastructure. Anil’s majority stakes in most of these companies give him a net worth close to $40 billion.

In the last fiscal, the market capitalisation of the Reliance ADA Group of companies more than doubled, while shares in Mukesh’s Reliance Industries and its related companies rose 79 percent. Anil’s companies now have a market value of about two-thirds of those run by Mukesh, the Journal calculated.

 Courtesy :- Economic Times

Anil Ambani big plans in Entertainment industry

June 20, 2008

Steven SpielbergAnil AmbaniAnil goes to Hollywood

A film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Anil Ambani? Well, this may soon become reality!

Riding high on the entertainment wave, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd (RBEL) has set eyes on big ticket deals in Hollywood.

After announcing a slew of Hollywood projects, including movie ventures with legends like Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey and George Clooney, Anil Ambani is all set to sign a deal with the famous Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.

“We have already signed eight Hollywood projects. Hollywood is the epicentre of global entertainment content and we see a great opportunity there,” Rajesh Sawhney, president, Reliance Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

The ADA Group will invest $600 million in Spielberg’s DreamWorks SKG, The Wall Street Journal had reported.

According to the newspaper, Ambani’s cash will allow Spielberg, the man behind several blockbusters like Jaws, Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park, and his partners Jeffrey Kaztenberg — the former Disney hotshot — and music baron David Geffen end their existing agreement with Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom’s Sumner Redstone.

A tie-up with Spielberg would be a dream come true for Anil Ambani.

Can Anil Ambani woo the superstar director to join his league? While it will be a big break for Anil Ambani, for Spielberg it would mean more independence working with Ambani, especially when the others like NBC are also in talks with the director, say industry sources.

Media sources point out that “Anil Ambani has a long way to go to scale up and become a truly global player especially at a time when Hollywood financial deals are getting more complicated.”

So will Anil Ambani be able to convert his love for movies into big money spinners? Only time will tell…

Anil’s new game plan

The company’s foray into Hollywood marks a turning point for the entertainment savvy Anil Ambani. The company has been valued at over $3 billion after George Soros invested $100 million for a 3 per cent stake in the company in February, 2008.

The tie-ups with Hollywood biggies like George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures and Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions are planned to scale up the company’s entertainment business.

The films are likely to have production budgets ranging from $25 million to $150 million. Reliance Entertainment plans to deal with around 30 projects and eyes big revenues from Hollywood blockbusters.

Industry sources say that this is Ambani’s strategic move to rake in profits in an industry that makes big budget hit films. The weekly collections of some of the new releases like The Incredible Hulk are examples of how lucrative the Hollywood business is. But rivals doubt the timing and financing of these Hollywood deals.

Ambani, unfazed by these naysayers, has big US plans…

From Bollywood to Hollywood

Reliance Entertainment has bought or leased out more than 200 cinema theatres in America for an undisclosed sum.

RBEL has entered the US market under the brand name ‘BIG’. The theatres are spread across 28 locations in North America, including New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Seattle.

This is one of the biggest Indian ventures in the entertainment sector in the United States. Besides, Bollywood films, Reliance Entertainment will screen regional movies from the South and second-run Hollywood films in these theatres.

These theatres will screen Bollywood and regional language films from India and other Asian countries.

Reliance Entertainment will run the chain with the help of the Tennessee-based management company Phoenix Theatres.

Ambani’s Bollywood banner

The flamboyant face of Reliance, Anil Ambani, who is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munium, has also announced the financing of over 69 Bollywood films.

Ambani made his first big entertainment deal with Adlabs soon after the split of the Reliance empire in 2005.

Reliance ADA Group acquired Adlabs Films Limited in 2005, one of the largest entertainment companies in India, which has interests in film processing, production, exhibition and digital cinema.

Today Adlabs processes almost 70 per cent of the films that are made in India, making it a clear leader in the market. It’s not just films Anil Ambani is keen on…

Entertainment unlimited

Reliance Entertainment is spearheading the ADAG’s foray into the media and entertainment space.

Reliance Entertainment’s core focus ‘is to build significant presence for Reliance in the entertainment ecosystem, across content and distribution platforms.’

Anil Ambani has touched every sphere of entertainment and is bracing ahead to tap the growing potential of each segment.

From movies, music, FM radio, sports, gaming, Internet, mobile portals, leading to direct opportunities in delivery across the emerging digital distribution platforms: digital cinema, IPTV, DTH and Mobile TV, RBEL is set to make its presence felt across the globe.

The group has picked up a stake in TV Today which runs Hindi channel Aaj Tak and the English news channel Headlines Today. It also has stakes in NDTV, Zee Enterprises and UTV Software.

And there is no limit to when it comes to the entertainment business. From FM radio to online gaming portal and home entertainment platform, the company has a good package in hand.

No full stops here…

ADAG’s BIG 92.7 FM has rolled out in several cities. It will soon be heard across 45 cities, 1,000 towns and 50,000 villages. Zapak.com, an online gaming portal has acquired more than 1 million registered users in the first four months of its launch. The current registered user base exceeds 3 million.

Another film venture is Bigflicks.com which offers movie rental and movie download services both to the domestic market as well as the NRI community. Besises, Internet-based services, the company has plans to open a chain of DVD stores.

And well, Bigadda.com is a social networking platform for Web and mobile.

Big Motion Pictures has a pipeline of over 40 films. And in animation space, AniRights, a digital animation content creation company based in Pune creates next-generation animation for theatre, television, direct-to-home and other platforms.

The company’s mobile games initiative is Jump Games. Big Music and Home Entertainment plans to focus on digital platforms such as the Internet and mobile and radio networks. It will also make its foray into events and live entertainment through talent management and conducting live events.

The show has just begun… the world is watching!

Courtesy:- Rediff