The Hindu Business Line : Radaan Mediaworks looking at private equity funding

Radaan Mediaworks (I) Ltd is considering allotment of shares to private equity funds, for which there are many offers. While Radaan did not want to disclose the size of capital infusion, which is a matter of valuation, the company’s Chairperson, Ms Radhika Sarathkumar, is not averse to letting her stake in the company decline from 51.4 per cent now to around 35 per cent.

“We have a lot of offers, but we are yet to decide on which to take,” Ms Radhika said, adding that Radaan was looking at a PE who would add value, not just money.

The company, which is into producing television content, recently forayed into film production and has produced two Tamil films so far. The third one – Kannamoochi Enada – is ready for release. Radaan Mediaworks has prod uced the film in partnership with UTV and Pyramid Saimira. According to Ms Radhika, the tie-up with UTV will hold good for Radaan’s proposed Hindi film production (remake of Tamil film 7G Rainbow Colony) too. “Together, we may even produce more films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi in future,” she said.

It also has plans to produce two more Tamil films to be directed by K.S. Ravikumar and Gautam Menon.

At present, the company produces TV content for Sun TV Network for its channels in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. It also produces Sinhalese content for Maharaja Television in Sri Lanka and has tied up with ETV and Zee TV to produce content for Gujarati and Marathi TV channels.

Keen on short films

The company, which is into event management too, plans to explore the short film segment in future. “We are keen on producing short films and low budget movies as we go ahead,” she said.

Asked whether the company would produce content for other channels in the South, she said the pact with Sun TV does not allow that. But, Radaan, which retains the copyright for the content, is allowed to re-telecast them in Doordarshan. “We share a good working relationship with Sun TV and would certainly continue to produce content for its channels,” she said. Incidentally, the company is sitting on accumulated FCT (‘free commercial time’) worth about Rs 5 crore, which it expects to monetise in the coming months.

However, in order to be able to produce content for other TV channels, for which there is a good demand, Radaan is toying with the idea of floating a separate division, which could be eventually spun off into a separate company.

Currently, the company’s content is aired 18 hours a week across channels. It achieved a turnover of Rs 45 crore and a net profit of Rs 1.6 crore, last year. Last year, Radaan had to take a hit on a game show it produced — Th anga Vettai — in which it gave away gold to winners. The programme, though successful, cost Radaan dearly as gold prices went through the roof during that period the show as on.

Mr R. Santhanam, Director, Radaan, said that current year’s turnover would be about the same, but profits would be higher. “As we are planning to focus more on films, we expect our revenues to grow substantially from next year,” he said.

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