ChrysCapital to buy 12% in Hathway Cable for $60 million

Private equity (PE) major ChrysCapital was close to picking up about 10-12 per cent stake in Hathway Cable owned by the Rajan Raheja group for $60 million, sources close to the development said.

K Jayaraman, MD and CEO, Hathway Cable & Datacom, said, "It is very premature to talk about it right now. We haven't finalised on the party so far."

Following the PE entry, Raheja's stake will be reduced to about 62-64 per cent, while Star TV will continue to maintain its 26 per cent holding in the company.

However, sources said talks were at an advanced stage and the deal was likely to take place shortly. This is the second PE deal in similar business in recent times. In January, Singapore-based PE fund Temasek Holdings bought 10 per cent stake in TataSky, the joint venture between the Tata group and Star TV, for Rs 250 crore.

The deal comes at a time when the battle between Conditional Access System (CAS) and Direct-to-Home (DTH) is hotting up. Companies offering the two platforms are going all out to lure prospective consumers with promotional schemes and a variety of hardware financing options, which require deep pockets.

"We are in talks with a few players. The funds would be used for expansion of its CAS business and also to launch voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services by the year-end," a company source said. An agreement to this effect will be signed shortly.

ChrysCapital manages $1 billion across four funds. The Delhi-based PE fund's investment portfolio includes Idea Cellular, UTI Bank, Suzlon,Yes Bank, Moser Baer and ING Vysya Bank.