The race to pick up a strategic stake in the two sports channel of Nimbus Communications, Neo Cricket and Neo Sports, is hotting up. Nimbus and its investment bankers mandated to find a partner, Barclays Capital and Avendus, sounded out Sahara about the offer and details of it were expected to be sent to the company soon, said sources.
The move came on the heels of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd showing interest in buying a stake in the channels. Spokespersons of Nimbus and Sahara declined to comment.
The channels are controlled by Neo Sports Broadcast Ltd, an arm of Nimbus. Apart from the main shareholder, Nimbus, Neo has some other private investors and financial institutions.
Sahara, which has interests in financial services, real estate, media and hospitality, has made large investments in the country’s cricketing and sports sweepstakes.
It outbid Bharti Airtel in 2010 to retain the sponsorship rights of the Indian men’s cricket team till the end of 2013. It forked out Rs 3.3 crore per international match to have its logo displayed on the Team India jersey. In the same year, it bought the Pune franchisee in cricket’s Indian Premier League for Rs 1,702 crore.
It also bought a under-construction cricket stadium in Pune. The group broadcasts the Celebrity Cricket League, a T-20 league among six teams of film stars.
It entered motorsports in October 2011, when it acquired a 42.5 per cent stake in Force India, the Formula One team owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, for $100 million. The group has been a front runner in hockey by sponsoring the Indian team. It was also considering buying a football team in Europe. Sahara has a large stake in the broadcasting media space.
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A strategic stake in a sports channel would complete Sahara’s entire bouquet. It would also give Sahara an outlet where it could beam many of the sporting events it conceives and organises.
Most of its competitors have presence in their bouquet with sports channels or have rights over key cricket matches and tournaments. Zee has Ten Sports and Zee Sports, while Sony has rights for the IPL. Star TV has partnership with ESPN. It also has Star Sports channel.
| BEING COURTED Tournaments in 2012 for which Nimbus has broadcast rights. The events are not money-spinners in the league of cricket | ||||
| Tournament | Asia Cup | World Series Hockey | French Open | Euro 2012 |
| Sport | Cricket | Hockey Joint initiative by Nimbus and FIH | Tennis | Football |
| Venue | Dhaka | India | Rolland Garros | Poland Ukraine |
| Rights till | Five-year deal with Asian Cricket Council till 2014 | Rights for 15 years starting 2011 | Yearly | Signed with UEFA (which covers UEFA Euro 2012, 2013 UEFA European Under 21 Championship and the UEFA Women's Euro 2013) |
| Time | Mar 8-20 | Feb -Mar | May-June | Jun -Jul |
| Compiled by Varada H Bhat | ||||
The deal would make sense for Sahara if Nimbus retains its rights on international cricket matches in India, which has been cancelled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The dispute is in courts.